RWBY: Cloaks and Daggers
by Nate Cu-Connallain
Summary: Ruby's home was gone, all at once her old life had vanished. Now, she was desperate for a new one and at the last request from her father, she has a chance for just that, in the form of a poverty dwelling woman. Raven Branwen. But there's something else going on in Vale, something dangerous, something involving her mother. Ruby will have to decide if her morals are worth her life.
1. The First Mark

**Right, so, a new story I wanted to have a go at, focused more on the characters than any huge over-arcing plot. I'll say I'm looking forward to this one really, if only because I want it to be more grounded, drama focuses.**

 **There still is a plot, but I'd say it's less _grand_ than what I usually plan out.**

 **Whether I can actually manage that is anyone's guess but hey.**

 **It's more relaxed story I think, one where the Grimm _aren't_ the focus.**

 **Yeah there'll be mentions of them, but this is an AU so, well you'll see how soon.**

 **Hopefully you'll like it, I'm pondering whether I should state the pairing for this story outright or leave it until it actually happens but I think I might leave that up to you guys. let me know if that would make it more convenient for you or not.**

 **Also, because I got asked to do this in another story in most recent chapters, I'll throw a heads up that this is rated M for a reason. mostly for freedom sure, but if it's something that deeply effects you, be prepared for blood and gore.**

I **t shouldn't be excessive to a ridiculous amounts but for when it is here's the warning.**

* * *

…

* * *

A young girl stumbled as the train shunted. She knocked into a person, who scowled at her when they realised she was a kid. They probably though she was some kind of disrespectful youth, or some other stereotype like that. She mumbled an apology all the same, but kept her eyes to the ground, clutched the handle of her suitcase nervously.

That had been the third time already. The overhead train from Patch to Vale was a rickety one, which honestly made her feel queasy considering it was the only way to the city from the island, and you know, travelled over the ocean but would it have really been that much of a big deal for the archetices or engineers or whatever to just make it a _little_ bit more comfortable?

The answer was no apparently, as it shunted again and Ruby tripped, falling into a woman who looked none to please as to being bothered. The teen shrank back on herself, apologising again.

She couldn't even steady herself, too short to reach the handles above and stuck in the middle of the crowded train. She was at the mercy of momentum as it was.

Mercifully, the train came to a stop at the station a few minutes later though, and let Ruby disembark. Unfortunately, that came in the form of being carried away in a sea of bodies.

Ruby nearly had a panic attack right then and there.

She just _couldn't_ deal with people. Especially like this! She could barely talk to them without suffering an anxiety attack, let along be this close to them.

The exit was a gift, but she couldn't stop to savour it since more people were getting off behind her.

She headed down the stairs in front of her along with everybody else and to the glass door leading outside. She peered through the glass and grimaced at what she saw:

The weather was quite frankly awful. Nearly gale force winds and a torrent of rain so heavy she could barely see out.

She bit her lip. She couldn't wait here though. She had somewhere to be. Steeling herself, she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small scrap of paper. Her eyes scanned over it once, twice before she nodded and stowed it away again, pulling up her hood and gripping her suitcase as she made a break for it.

The rain almost instantaneously soaked through her clothes but she did her best to ignore it, turning to her left and running down the street, she counted each block as she passed it.

First, second, third, fourth, wait, it split her- never mind, there was fifth, and six and- no, this time it really did, there was a fork in the road as cars sped past.

How was she supposed to know where she was going in a place like this?

The signage in this place was terrible.

She glanced to her side and saw a coffee shop. Nearly without thinking she hurried in, out of the storm and was met with the warm air and dryness.

Thank goodness for the small mercies.

She looked around. There were a lot of people here, taking shelter form the rain just as she was, not many paid her much mind thankfully, and those that did lost interest quickly. She glanced back out the window.

The rain just looked even more horrible.

She was lost, no doubt about it. yeah it was her first time in Vale but of course her luck meant she could barely make her way down the street!

She was too afraid to ask anyone for help either, what if they ignored her? Or worse, what if they _didn't?_

They might just get angry at her for bugging them, they were strangers right? You weren't supposed to talk to strangers.

Maybe… someone who worked her could give her directions. That would be easier right?

With that decide, Ruby got into line, uncomfortable at the close proximity to others, but okay as long as they didn't touch her. It didn't take long for it to be her turn, and the person behind the counter – a young man, maybe just turning eighteen – smile politely at her.

"Good afternoon," the redhead greeted. "May I take your order?"

"A-ah, yes." Ruby nodded. "C-can I h-have a coffee please? With cream and sugar."

"Huh." He said, scribbling down the order.

"A-and can that be to go please?"

"Of course, anything else?"

She glanced at his name tag. Fox, then back up ti his face, the big round glasses looked almost heavy duty, but they took away the edge of intimidate Ruby might have felt from the tanned male.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd give me directions." She said, pulling out the pieced of paper again and hesitantly sliding it across the counter. "I need to find someone, but I don't really know where to go."

Fox looked down at the paper, it was an address, and frowned.

"Who exactly are you trying to meet, drug dealers?"

"I…I'm sorry?"

"This address leads to a really shady part of town. It's full of thugs and all kinds of people you wouldn't want to meet late at night."

That was… not good news. If she was having doubts before then they just got even worse. The way he was talking about it didn't make it seem like there was any good reason for a sane person, let alone a fifteen year old girl, to venture to that part of town.

But…

He shot her a look. "But you're going to go anyway, aren't you?"

She gave him a hesitant smile that caused him to sigh. He took out a pen and scribbled something onto the back of the paper she'd handed him.

"These are directions to the general area," he explained. "Follow them and you should be able to find the place you're looking for from there. Trust me, you'll know the place when you see it."

She thanked him, paying for the coffee with some of the lien she had from her dad's old wallet and hurried back outside. It was still raining, but it was a little bit lighter than before.

She took a look at the note and ran down the street, careful not to slip on the ground as she did so.

It took her a good ten minutes, maybe more to notice a change in her surroundings but when she did it was a big one:

The buildings were… run down. People wandered the streets with their faces shrouded by hoods or caps and there were more than a few people sitting on street corners and throwing up into the gutters.

This _definitely_ wasn't a nice part of Vale.

Ruby made sure to keep her head down, just moving through as fast as she could. Not many people payed her much attention, at least the rain was useful for making people want to be literally anywhere else.

Not long later, she came to a stop outside a tall building wedged between two others almost identical. It was an apartment complex, or whoever passed for on this side of town.

It was the place, and it was out of the rain, so Ruby didn't waste any time going in.

There was some kind of lunge, although considering it consisted of mainly just a stairwell and a few chairs in an open space maybe that was a bit of a stretch. There were a few people just laying about but Ruby made sure to steer clear of them.

She checked the address again, keeping an eye on the floor levels; first, second, third, fourth. On the seventh floor she stopped, making her way down the hall and stopping at the eleventh door on the left.

She swallowed and knocked the door twice.

There was a beat of silence, then a lot of shuffling and the sound of chains being pulled away.

Ruby took a step back as the door opened and shrank in on herself as she took in blood-red eyes. A woman with wild dark hair looked around blearily, then realising the caller was shorter than her, looked down.

"Yeah?" came a somehow gruff voice.

"U-um," Ruby tried. "A-are you Raven Branwen?"

Those red eyes narrowed. "Who's askin'?"

"M-my name is Ruby Rose. My dad said I should come find you."

The woman didn't look impressed. "And? You're still not ringing any bells here brat. Are you going to waste my time more or what?"

She licked her lips. Okay, so this woman wasn't entirely friendly. That was okay. Totally fine. She just had to not freak out and she could explain things, yeah.

"Well?"

The girl flinched. "Sorry… my… my dad said you and him were close."

The dark haired woman scoffed. "Oh yeah? I don't know anybody by the name Rose, so I guess not."

"His name wasn't Rose. It was Xiao-Long."

"…what?"

The teen swallowed again, the woman's voice had gone flat. She mustered the courage to look up and hold the gaze of those red eyes no matter how feeble an attempt it might have been.

"Taiyang Xiao-Long," she said again. "H-he told me to come and find you."

…

…

A few minutes later, Ruby sat on a couch inside the… apartment. If it could be called that.

In front of her was a low coffee table, and on the other side of that another couch. There was a dingy little TV on her right and Ruby was fairly sure she could see a few cracks in the ceiling.

The whole place was shoddy. It was liveable, but there were clear signs of poverty here, or at least similarities to the rest of the area. In front of her was another mug off coffee she'd been offered (and she was relieved to find it was at least clean)

Across from her, the woman named Raven Branwen watched her suspiciously, a cup of tea in her hands. If Ruby had been feeling braver, she might have asked is she didn't feel the heat for it, since she was holding its porcelain sides rather than its hands, but as it was she stared at the floor, unsure of what to say.

Raven wore a dark tank top and leather jacker, baggy pants and some kind of red sash on her waist. Her wild hair draped down to her back, and there were tired lines under her eyes.

Ruby didn't think she herself looked like much though either and she was sure Raven agreed; in a soaking red hoodie, black pants and red buckled high boots, there actually wasn't much else.

The only things remotely unique were the red tips on her dark hair and her silver eyes.

Which honestly didn't seem like much in the face of Ravens.

"So," the woman said to break the silence. "You're Tai's daughter?"

It was a question, directed at her, so Ruby nodded. "Yes." She said, the froze when she realised she didn't know what else to say. Was there something she was supposed to say? Was this an interrogation or just honest questions?

Raven seemed to pick up on that and sighed, leaning back into the seat. "So how old are you kid? What are you doing in this part of town?"

"I-I'm fifteen…" she stuttered, answering the first question quickly. That was good right? Oh, wait, there was still the second one. "Dad… he told me to come look for you."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" she grunted. "I mean, what the hell could he possible have been thinking in that thick head of his? He thinks he can just appear in my life again after seventeen years?" She looked like she wanted to spit to the side or something equally awful, but retrained herself in the presence of a little girl. "Where the hell is he anyway, why isn't he with you."

"He's dead."

Raven blinked.

Slowly.

"…I… what?" the woman stumbled, her voice had gone… quiet.

"He passed away last week," the teen told her in a flat voice, no, a void one. "He gave me your address and told me to find you for… whatever."

Raven stared at her, looking at a complete lost. Ruby squirmed suddenly under her wide-eyed gaze, courage apparently lost before the woman seemed to shake herself free.

"Why me though? I mean, what about you mom?"

"She died last year." Ruby mumbled, and Raven actually flinched at that. Ouch, another landmine she'd managed to trip on. She was going two for two.

She breathed a heavy sigh and ran a hand though her hair. "Shit." She muttered. "Just… shit."

The younger girl cleared her throat. "He told me you were a friend. Before he… you know. He said I should come find you and you could help me. He-" she reached into her suitcase and pulled out a slip of paper. A letter. "Gave me this… I haven't looked at it, but he said it was for you."

The adult took it warily, and after a moment's hesitation opened it. she took the slip of paper and read through it. She gasped and looked like she might even fall over, and maybe the face she was already sitting is what saved her from such a fate.

"This-" she stared at the paper. "This is a special guardianship order!"

"I-it is?"

Raven sent her a sharp look. "You didn't know?"

Ruby shook her head frantically. "No. I told you I didn't look."

The red eyed woman gave a reluctant sigh. "It's already filled in and everything. All it needs is my name… Tai wants… he wants me to look after you. Is he serious? After what he did?"

The fifteen year old wilted. "Is there something wrong?"

"Wrong?!" Raven barked incredulously, but stopped when Ruby visibly recoiled. She licked her lips and ran a hand through her hair again. "Do you even know who I am kid?"

A shake of Ruby's head.

Raven just sighed louder. "I… was Tai's wife… before he ran out on me."

Ruby stared. She… hadn't been filled in on that. "I… didn't know."

She laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I can tell." Her eyes fell to the paper again. "He runs out on me seventeen years ago and I don't hear anything from him, not even a word and next thing I know his kid shows up with _this._ "

"I-I'm sorry," Ruby stuttered suddenly standing. This had been a bad idea. What had she been thinking? No, it was too much, far too much to ask a stranger something like that. What had her _dad_ been thinking? "I-if you don't want me here I understand, I… I can find someplace else."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Where?"

The girls silence was telling.

The woman looked down at the papers again. A frown mulled across her features. She was thinking, making a decision on something.

"…Son of a bitch." She stood up, moving over the kitchen top on the left and found a pen in one of the drawers. Before Ruby could even gasp, Raven wrote her name down on the appointed line. She sighed. "Leave it to Tai to give me an choice where the only decent thing to do is say yes. Ugh, I'll sent the documents in tomorrow morning." She glanced back at a stunned Ruby.

"You got a change of clothes?"

The teen nodded rapidly. "Y-yes," she said. "I brought everything I could with me."

"Well good." Raven grunted. "Sorry to say we don't have any extra rooms, this place is too small for things like that."

"It's fine." Ruby assured her, relief was already flooding through her. She hadn't really known what to expect, but knowing that she would at least have a roof over her head made her feel a whole lot better. "I can sleep on the couch, I promise I won't be a bother."

"We'll see." She turned towards another door, reached in, and tossed a towel towards Ruby, who caught it easily. "Make sure to dry yourself off, you're drenched."

"Right."

"Oh and," Raven said again, turning back to her. "If you hear any noise at night, you can just ignore it. this whole place is kind of loud around midnight. Yeah?"

"That's fine." Ruby assured her, "Thank you Miss Branwen, I mean it."

Raven blinked, before turning away and coughing. "Yeah well, you're welcome. It's already late so… you might as well go to sleep, we can figure out the rest tomorrow."

A smile spread across the teens face, and with one last hesitate look Raven nodded and headed towards her own room.

With that, Ruby got to work at peeling her wet clothes off, and wringing herself dry with the towel.

It only took her a few minutes, and she got into her white and red pyjamas afterwards.

It wasn't too hard for her to find a blanket, and when she did, turned off the lights lay down on the couch.

Ruby was tired from her trip, so it took no effort to let herself drift off to sleep.

…

…

It was a bad dream that woke her up, one filled with smoke that she couldn't remember. It faded from her mind as soon as she opened her eyes, and Ruby wasn't sure if it was ever there.

She blinked, bleary eyed for a few moments as she took in her surroundings.

Where… oh, yeah right, Miss Branwen and let her stay on her couch. It felt as if she'd simply shut her eyes for a few moments, but Ruby could tell it was morning. A quick check on the scroll at her side confirmed that. It was eight in the morning. Usually she'd have been up earlier but hey, she'd had a busy day yesterday.

She yawned, stretching her arms behind her back. She didn't know when Miss Branwen would be up, so maybe she would just see if there was anything to eat and try not to bother her.

Thankfully, as run down as this part of Vale seemed to be at least there was a working fridge in the apartment and hey, milk!

Her clothes had dried overnight, so she quickly slipped them on and searched for a bowel, maybe some cereal.

Luckily Miss Branwen wasn't a crazy person, and put the cereal on one of the bottom shelves.

She laughed at the thought. Who even put food on high selves? That was just ridiculous, and she wasn't just saying that because she was short.

She yawned again as she sat down at one of the chairs around the kitchen table top. Mentally, Ruby was already thinking up a plan. She _needed_ a plan if she was going to keep her promise to Miss Branwen and not be a bother. It wold be pretty bad if she came along and just ended up being another mouth to feed without helping in some way.

Yeah, that was it, she needed to-

"Who the hell are you?"

Ruby startled, and made to spin around in her seat when a hand clamped around the back of her neck.

Ruby gasped as she was _lifted_ off the ground. She grasped desperately at the arm that had her by the throat now, straining to breathe.

A golden mane and a pair of lilac eyes greeted her when she looked down, as well as an angry snarl.

"What?" the blonde snarled. "You some sorta street rat? Fuckin' answer me!"

Oh Ruby answered alright:

By planting her boot right in her face.

"Son of a-"

Ruby's attacker was cut off as she kicked out. There was a crunch and a crash as Ruby fell onto the table, knocking the bowl to the floor and shattering it.

The blonde stumbled back, gripping the table top and growling at her. She lunged, but Ruby saw it coming.

The girl ducked under the grab and slammed her shoulder into the other girls' stomach.

Ruby could tell from one look at the other girl - built like a fighter – that she was way stronger than her. She was heavier too, and taller. So instead she did what she thought was probably the smarter option and aimed to through her off balance.

A blow to the stomach could do that if done right, and since Ruby herself was small and quick, she managed to stick a foot out while she was at it, wanting to duck past and trip her attacker up.

She didn't expect a hand to clamp a vice grip around her arm.

She yelped.

They both went tumbling to the floor with a bang and Ruby on the bottom.

A hand came down and wrapped around her neck again, but this time her legs shot out, locking her attacker in a chokehold as well.

"You little fucker!" the blonde snarled.

Ruby grit her teeth and snarled back, squeezing tighter even as her vison swam, limbs buring from the strain.

"What the fuck is going on here?!"

Both girls looked towards the voice, for Ruby that meant looking straight up from her angle.

"Mom/Miss Branwen!"

They froze.

" _ **What!?**_ "

"Oh for god's sake." Raven scowled. "Yang get off of her, now."

The blonde now revealed to be Yang, was quick to do as she was told, more for the fierce glare her apparent mother was giving her.

Said mother gave Ruby a look. "You alright?"

The girl checked, rubbing a hand against her neck. It didn't feel _too_ bad, but since it had been such surprise, and the fact that Ruby didn't like touching, it had caused quite a panic in her.

"Yeah," she said after a moment, if only to assure the adult giving her a waiting look. "I'm fine."

The other girl was still glaring at her too, except now she was clutching the left side of her face in pain. "Who the hell is this brat mom?"

Raven sighed, walking over to Yang and prising her hand off her face with a little bit of effort.

"You really got it good. What the hell happened?"

"She kicked me in the face."

"You _attacked me!"_ Ruby shot back.

"Yeah well-"

"Both of you quiet." Raven barked. It shut them both right up. "Both of you. On the couch. Now."

That the order of a voice more than slightly intimidating they did as they were told, making sure to take opposite sides. Yang still glared at Ruby as Raven reached into a compartment below the fridge and tossed a bag of ice Yang's way.

The blonde mumbled something of a thanks and put it against her face. Yeah, that was going to be a black eye.

Raven sighed and stood at the end of the coffee table, looking at them both squarely. "Right, so I'm guessing some kind of explanation is in order, for all the good it'll do now. Shit. Ruby, this is Yang. She's my daughter."

Ruby swallowed. Now that she had a good look at her, she could see some of the resemblance, but more that that, she could see the resemblance to Taiyang.

Which meant…

"Yang, this is Ruby Rose, she's staying with us now."

"What?" Yang squawked. "Why?"

The dark haired woman closed her eyes and rubbed he bridge of her nose. "It's complicated. It's just…" she sighed again as if trying to figure out a way to deliver the news gently. Ruby wilted and Raven decided to just batter through the problem. "Yang, mean Taiyang's second daughter… she's your half-sister."

The girl's response was less than expected.

In that it was a long, drawn out silence.

"That's… that's a joke, right?"

"No, it isn't."

Yang looked to Ruby, who's dumbass under scrutiny, decided that the _genius_ thing to do was _wave_ at the person she'd just kicked in the face.

The blank look she got in return wasn't promising.

Yang stood up. "I'm taking a walk."

"Take her with you."

"Wha- are you serious?"

Raven's glare said she was. "She's new to Vale, show her around."

The blonde threw her hands up, letting out a huff. Ruby sent a look to the dark haired woman, but Raven just shrugged.

"Go on, I'll clean up here."

Ruby nodded, and as Yang threw open the door she ran to catch up

…

…

"H-hey would you just wait up a second?"

The blonde most certainly did not, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets and keeping her eyes front even as Ruby caught up beside her.

She didn't stop and as they walked down the street people began to look their way.

"Come on would you at least talk to me?"

"Stop following me." The older girl grunted.

"Look I'm sorry I-"

" _Stop_."

Ruby flinched. "W-what?"

Yang glared at her. "Don't apologise, I ain't gonna listen to some brat who lies to my face about feeling bad."

"B-but I _am_ sorry _."_

"I grabbed you first, you seriously tellin' me you feel bad for fighting back?"

"I'm sorry for _hurting_ you yes!"

The blonde's eyes bore into her, and the teen fidgeted under the gaze.

After a moment Yang let out a huff of air. It was coming into autumn now, so her breath could be seen clearly.

"Whatever. That still doesn't explain why you're following me."

The shorter girl blanched. Why was she following her? Because Raven had said she would show her around! The blonde knew that!

But… that wasn't what she was asking… she was looking for _her_ reason. Why she'd actually decided to follow.

"W-well," Ruby stuttered. "Y-you looked pretty upset back there when you met me s-so I wanted to… wanted to…" she stopped. What _had_ she wanted to do? It had just been instinct to run after the blonde and she honestly had no idea what to say.

Yang seemed to realise that, and let out another puff of air. She started moving again and when Ruby didn't make to follow she turned back to glare.

"You coming?"

"R-really?"

"Mom wanted me to show you around, might as well do that so she ain't naggin' at me later. So come on."

Ruby nodded rapidly, and scurried after Yang, coming up to walk beside her.

The older girl watched her out of the corner of her eye, and when she got nothing from that she grunted.

"So where you from?"

"H-huh?"

"Oh for-" Yang groaned. "Are you going to stutter every time you speak? What's wrong with you?"

Ruby shrank in on herself. "S-s-sorry."

Yang bit her tongue and groaned again. "Right, uh-huh. Let's just forget about that for now. Can you just… answer the question?"

"…Patch. I'm from Patch."

"The island huh. Not from Mistral or Atlas?"

"No," Ruby answered honestly. "I wouldn't even have the money to travel from places like that safely."

"Eh… guess so," Yang shrugged. "It's not like you could be from anywhere else I guess. Patch is like what, the only place part from the city that's liveable. Do they have a barrier over there?"

"T-they do," she said. "But it's mostly just the sea that protects the place. A-at least that's what mom said."

"Uh-huh… your mom."

There was a pause. What was with that tone?

"So," Yang went on. "What's Patch like? Good weather? Nice people? There's a town there right?"

Ruby shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Dunno."

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Again the teen flinched, and Yang had to bite back the instinct telling her to shake the girl for some proper answers. Really, all she was doing was talking, why was she shaking like a leaf?

"I-I didn't go into town. Just stayed around home."

Yang blinked. "You're like fifteen right, what, you didn't have any friends?"

"Nope."

She blinked again, looking ahead of her for a moment. They'd gotten to the nicer part of Vale now, filled with people going about their business.

"Well shit." Yang didn't really know what else to say to that. Course her mouth and brain didn't always work together, so of course it ran off even more.

"So let's summarise this yeah? I get home last night, lights are off, I think nothing bout' it. I go to bed, wake up the next morning and find a girl I've never seen before eating our food. Turns out, she's my long lost half-sister from a dad who ran out on me when I was born. Turns out he had another kid, who shows up without warning when my mom says, hey, this kids going to be living with us, have fun! _Then_ after getting a kick that's _definitely_ gonna lead to a black eye, that kid follows me out and tries to talk to me, where I learn that apparently she's some kind of weirdo who's stayed in her cabin in the woos her whole life… that about it."

"…"

"Is it?"

"…Yes." Came the murmured reply.

"Why did mom even say yes to you? Not like her to be so nice to a fuckin' stranger. What, she was just like yeah, stay here even though I know nothin' about you?"

"I… yes?"

"And you're telling me you don't think that's weird? Like at all."

"I-I don't know."

"Doesn't sound like you know anything."

Ruby felt her teeth clench. "Do you have to k-keep talking like I'm idiot? I- I haven't, I mean baring earlier I haven't done anything to you."

Yang huffed. "Listen kid, I'm just being honest, you should get used to it."

"Doesn't mean you have to be a j-jerk about it."

"What was that?"

Whatever the response could have been was cut off by the sound of a horn.

A _really, massive_ and very, _very_ loud sounding horn.

Ruby practically jumped out of her skin at the sound, though people around them all looked towards the same direction, south.

Yang was looking at way to, with an annoyed frown, followed along as the crowd headed towards the horn. Ruby, not wanting to be left behind, hurried along as well.

It was a bit of a ways in the direction of the crowd, in fact, people didn't stop until they reached the city gate, the only entrance and exit possible by foot in the entire city. Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch as it opened.

Ruby tensed. Why were they opening the gates?! There were Grimm out there!

"Relax," Yang yawned beside her. When had she gotten there? "They're just coming back."

Ruby blinked. "Who's coming back?"

The blonde looked down at her in surprise. "You… don't know? No, of course you don't why would _that_ be thing you know about." She sighed, as if irritated by Ruby's lack of knowledge, looking towards the gates as people returned.

"Those, are the hunters."

* * *

…

* * *

 **So, first chapter. This is a lot easier to write than what I'm used to honestly, so hopefully I can get you hooked with these first few chapters.**

 **I'm not sure about update schedules but hopefully I can keep to at least a bi-weekly tope of cycle.**

 **It would be nice to be able to update multiple stores a week, but I'd say I'm not good enough for that yet, or that I procrastinate too much for it.**

 **I'll figure that one out later.**

 **But until the next chapter, let me know what you think, If you like it hopefully you can follow and favourite too.**

 **First chapter but not much to say unless you want to ask me anything, so feel free to do that as well, anytime.**


	2. The Second Mark

**So I thought I'd release this one a bit early for the main reason that it's the start of a new story and some probably aren't sure if they'll have any interest in it.**

 **Basically while this one is out just a few days after the first one I'll normally just try to keep it a weekly thing if I can.**

 **That being said there are a few things I want to go over in terms of this... AU I suppose, just because realistically they don't have any reason to be explain them _in_ the story itself.**

 **First; Aura and Semblances. Yeah they don't exist in this one. Which is yeah a big change but pretty... important. I can't really say why yet but there's a heads up for you anyway.**

 **Secondly this story has Grimm, but it focuses a lot less on them than what I'm used to. That may or may not be because I have another story in the works which is in the same technical universe, same characters and all, but much, much different premise.**

 **A sort of internal versus external sort of thing.**

 **You can probably figure out which one this is.**

 **And yeah, blood and gore. Putting that out there once again just in case people missed it the first time. expect things to take a turn at any moment, some less some more just letting you all know.**

T **here's a few more but, well I'm sure people will bring them up if they have an issue with them so I'll leave it for now. basically I just wanted to let you know before you get into this story, so you can decide whether this is for you or not.**

 **Having said that, if you thinki t might be, I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

…

* * *

Hunters? What were hunters?

Ruby didn't know, she'd never heard of them, yet here, people cheered on their return with a sort of ferocity she'd never seen before in her life.

There were dozens of them, all different, all unique; one had bright red hair, another was a giant of a man. There was one with a Mohawk, one with frizzy green hair and so many more. There were older men and women too, leading the front while the younger they looked the farther back they were in the group.

And all of them, all of them were armed to the teeth. The fifteen-year-old stared wide-eyed at the assortments of weapons, swords, spears, guns, maces, staffs as… was that a briefcase?

Just who were these people?

She asked Yang as much, who let out a surprised little noise.

"So you really don't know who these people are. That's… huh." She shook her head. "They're the Hunter. They're like, the most elite warriors. The best of the best. See over there?" Yang asked, pointing north in the direction Vale was packed up against a cliff, atop it in the distance she could see something that almost looked like a castle, or at least a row of towers piercing the clouds.

"That's Beacon." She told her. "That's where they train and live while they do their jobs."

Ruby glanced back to the so-called hunters, making their way further past them now.

"A-and what do they do exactly? Go outside the barrier?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Apparently their job consists of killing Grimm and trying to establish a foothold for humanity." The blonde frowned at that. "as far as I can tell, they do that all the time. If anything I'd say they're more of a peacekeeping force than anything else… the majority of the Grimm are dangerous yeah but far away, it's only because of how much they screwed the world up that we can't go out."

Ruby looked confused. "So what's with all the cheering then? I mean if they're not really fighting any major threat?"

"Well this is the first time the newest members got to go out with the others. I guess people are excited about the new blood."

"What do you think?"

Yang scoffed. "I think they get a paycheck bigger than I'll ever see in my life for accomplishing exactly nada." She crossed her arms. "A bunch of stuck up elitist pricks if you ask me."

"Um… okay." Ruby said uncertainly. She wasn't exactly sure how she was _supposed_ to respond. Going outside the barrier was… it was insane.

Humanity only had three cities to its name; Vale, Atlas and Mistral. Patch, for Vale, was one of it's greatest boons, since it was a place they could harvest resources without the danger of Grimm, or at least the poison they'd set upon the lands

But the rest of the world?

Not a single human inhabited it. Ruby had… she _knew_ that even a single Grimm was dangerous, enough to slaughter dozens, maybe even hundreds _after_ its death if it got the chance.

These people went out to that willingly?

It… it might have made sense. After all, Vale needed resources. Apart from the way between Vale and Patch the only method was by ship. The tiny amounts of dust and metal, or hell, even things like wood and stone were scrounged up in close proximity to the cities or the cliff Vale was located on itself.

So it made sense that people would want to try and gain more land.

But going out there was still insane.

"How bad is it?"

"Hm?" Yang looked down at her.

"How bad is it when they usually come back," she bit her lip. "I mean, how bad are the losses?"

Yang shrugged, "Dunno, they keep stuff like that a secret. The council funds it you know, even if it was bad I doubt they'd want people knowing."

Lilac eyes watched the Hunters as they finally left, particularly the youngest at the back. Ruby thought they looked about her age. "No idea how Atlas and Mistral deal with the problem, but I guess they do it the same way.

Yang huffed out another breath of hot air. "Come on, might as well go back. There's not really any place I needa' be."

"R-right."

She glared. "Stop doing that will ya?"

"D-doing what?" Ruby stuttered.

" _That_! _"_ she scowled. "What, you can't speak properly or something? Can't form full sentences?"

Ruby stared at the floor. "No." was her only answer.

Yang looked down at her for a second, before sighing and palming a hand against her forehead.

She was _trying_ to be mad at the kid but she was making it _really_ damn hard. It just made her feel like a massive bitch.

"Let's just go." She muttered.

* * *

…

…

* * *

A few minutes later they were walking down the street Ruby had come down just the day before. It looked a little different without the rain.

As in, she hadn't realised it was some kind of Highstreet when she'd ran down, and now it was bustling with people. There were all kinds of stores; clothes, shoes, jewellery, cafes and more on all sides.

Ruby's eyes zeroed in on the coffee shop she'd been in before, specifically the little sign they had on the window.

Now that she got a look at the whole thing in proper light, it actually looked like a pretty popular place. There were a _lot_ of people sitting outside, some together, others alone. And through the window she could see even more. She licked her lips.

She _had_ promised not to be a bother.

"H-hey Yang?"

"Wha-?" the blonde grunted.

"Can we hold up for a minute. I need to get something in there."

Yang followed to where Ruby was pointing and rolled her eyes. "You know you can just say want a coffee. Fine, I'll go look around the other places here for a while..."

Yang didn't wait for a response, turning and stalking away.

Ruby watched her 'half-sister' leave with a churning feeling in her stomach. She shook her head, she could think about that later.

With a sigh she headed into the Coffee shop. The bell rang and the male teen from before looked up. When he saw her he smiled. "Ah miss," he greeted as she came up to the counter. "a pleasant surprise to see you again so soon. Did you find what you were looking for the other day?"

She gave him a nervous smile. "I did t-thank you."

"That's good. So, what would you like today."

"Um, actually, I was looking for something else that you might be able to help me with."

* * *

…

…

* * *

"Mom, we're home." Yang called as the two girls came through the door.

Raven hummed from the kitchen. "Good, sit at the table will you? Dinners ready."

They did as they were told, an extra chair having been pulled from somewhere for Ruby to sit between them at the rounded table.

Yang practically dropped into her chair. Raven muttered something about manners as Ruby did the same albeit in a much more hesitant manner.

Food was set out and Raven sat down too.

"So," she said. "What'd you two do all day?"

Yang shrugged as she dug in. "Not much. Just showed her round the place; the plaza, the gates, the gym, the grocery store. All the essentials."

The dark haired woman hummed. "Right, so, Ruby," the teen jumped at her name a little, but turned to look at her. "If you're going to be living here I guess we should short a few things out; curfew and stuff like that I think." She ran a hand through her hair and grumbled. "I'll have to adjust my costs too."

"O-oh no that's fine," Ruby spoke up, rushing to assure the woman. "I-I can pay for stuff like food and everything else. I c-could probably, I mean I think I can pay rent too."

Raven looked at her in confusion. "I doubt you have enough money to do that."

"I got a job down at a coffee shop in the plaza."

Raven stopped, Yang stopped, the blonde setting down her fork and turning to stare at Ruby.

"You're telling me," she said slowly. "That in the ten minutes we were separated for you to get coffee, on your first day here… you managed to get a job."

"U-um… yes?"

Yang continued to stare, but Ruby could tell she wasn't pleased.

Why? She had no idea.

Miss Branwen on the other hand blinked owlishly. "Huh…"

The girl fidgeted a little. "I mean, it's not much in the grand scheme of things but the shop's successful enough to give me a fair wage at least, about ten lien an hour. They had an opening so I can work there five days a week."

"I didn't think you'd like working in a coffee shop," Raven blinked. "You don't give me that impression you know?"

"I… I don't really. P-people are hard." Ruby looked down for a second, before in an act that surprised the woman, Ruby looked up at her with a determined look in those strange silver eyes. "But you were kind enough to let me stay here. It's only fair that I pay you back if I can… so I'll deal with it."

"Huh." Raven said again, this time with an amused smirk on her face. "You're just full of surprises aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

Raven laughed. "I saw that little scuffle you had with Yang this morning."

Ruby blushed in embarrassment even as the blonde made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh.

Raven gave her the evil eye. "I don't know what you find so funny Yang, you were getting your ass kicked."

She frowned. "I could have taken her. I was on top."

"Yeah," the older woman scoffed in return. "And she had you in a choke hold. There was no way you were getting out of that."

"Tch." Was all Yang said, crossing her arms and looking pointedly away.

Raven rolled her eyes and glanced at the younger girl. "So pipsqueak, where did you learn to do that?"

Ah! The attention was on her! It wasn't nice, definitely not nice, especially because it was such a personal-

"O-oh you know," she mumbled. "Here and there. I just sorta picked it up."

Raven raised an eyebrow and smirked. She didn't believe her, but didn't seem like she felt the need to press. "Uh-huh."

She didn't say any more, and let Ruby eat in peace.

Yang… well, as soon as she was finished, she wordlessly got up and headed for her room, though not before sending a glare Ruby's way.

Both of the remaining people at the table caught it, though Raven just rolled her eyes and sent the younger girl a reassuring look.

"Don't worry about her. Yang's just… well she's Yang. Whatever she's sulking about she'll get over it."

Ruby nodded. That… that was fine. She shouldn't worry about it.

All she had to do was look forward to her first day of work tomorrow.

* * *

…

…

* * *

Memory was the key.

That was something Ruby learned immediately upon her first shift.

Fox had been pleased to see her, or at least polite, as she was coming to realise was a natural faucet for him. He was just _nice_. Maybe it was the customer service persona sticking to him a bit too hard, or maybe he was just like that.

Either way, he'd been helpful enough to get her started, explaining what it was she had to do.

Honestly she thought it would have been harder:

While Fox was the one actually serving the food and drinks they offered. The task Ruby was assigned to do was simply taking their orders and making them

Which, admittedly was a little scary since that meant talking to customers when they came in, and freaking out if they didn't speak clearly enough or if they suddenly changed their minds halfway through.

Thankfully it seemed that because of her age and what one nice old lady had called 'her cuteness' most people were more than forgiving if she asked them to repeat themselves or she made a tiny slip up. From there it was just following instructions, making the coffee was the easy part. Just read what was in front of her and remember what-went-where and how.

Even with so many people coming in – because wow, this place was really popular – the job she had to do didn't change.

Indeed, memory was the key, and Ruby had an awfully good memory.

There... was one hard part though.

There were a lot of customers, and Fox couldn't do it all on his own.

So, she had to help.

Ruby fixed the name tag pinned on her chest and carried a tray of cups to the appropriate table were a middle-aged couple sat together.

Of course as with most people, they ignored her as she set out the drinks.

Ruby hadn't really thought about that until now. It was just something people did, acting as if the server didn't exist when they deliver your order.

It was strange being in the receiving end of that.

Though it didn't really bother her.

The girl smiled. This didn't seem too hard. All she had to do was keep this up for the rest of her shift.

No problem!

* * *

…

…

* * *

"Weiss come on!" a red-haired girl sighed, chasing after her friend. "Please slow down, why are you so upset?"

"Because Pyrrha!" the white-haired girl stomped. "We're back from our first ever expedition outside the barrier and the next thing we know we're put on _night_ patrols."

The blonde boy beside them blinked. "What's wrong with that?" he then subsequently quailed when the same girl glared at him.

"Everything's wrong with that, _Arc_!" she growled. "We're supposed to be combating Grimm, not wandering the streets at night looking for common thugs to stop. That's the police's job."

Pyrrha smiled. "Weiss, please don't get upset at Jaune… are you upset we didn't get to fight any Grimm?"

"Hrk!" the girl tripped.

The boy ran a hand through his hair. "Honestly I don't know how that's a bad thing. This is much safer right?"

The task in question being the one they carried out at the moment:

The three of them had been tasked by their teachers to take up the patrol of downtown Vale. It was something given to all first-year trainees. They'd done it before, though Weiss had thought that after their expedition out past the barrier they'd finally be able to ditch such a thing.

Apparently not, and the fact that they'd been put right back on the next day had irked her.

The night was a time for rest, not stalking the streets. Besides, what did they really need to be out here for? There was nothing in Vale to ever actually _threaten_ its inhabitants. The Grimm were out _there_!

Weiss huffed again. "You'd think we'd get some respect for it but no, we're back doing this again."

"But," Jaune tried again. "We didn't actually see any Grimm. I mean, we haven't seen any yet."

"Jaune's right," Pyrrha added before Weiss could turn on him again. "I know you're a little annoyed that we didn't get recognition but… we didn't actually see any Grimm. I heard there are still third years who haven't encountered any."

"…I suppose." Weiss couldn't ignore that. You got respect in their vocation by killing Grimm and aiding humanity, but the way the formation was set up meant that the experienced Hunters were at the forefront battling the Grimm. People like them at the back didn't even see signs of Grimm most times.

Weiss certainly hadn't, no matter how much she wanted to.

 _It was the best way to prove herself._

She sighed. No, she supposed it made sense. Someone had to do this job, and perhaps it was a sign of trust that their superiors had thought they would be up for patrols right after their return.

That had to be it, right?

Still didn't make her feel any better.

"I still don't like it." She huffed. "We were told so casually too. There's never any ceremony with things like this. How are we meant to climb the ranks if nobody respects is?"

"Uh… by doing our jobs?"

"Oh _wow_ Jaune," Weiss drawled. "What deep seeded wisdom, what _genius_ to think that _doing something_ might actually help us improve."

"Weiss," Pyrrha warned. "Leave him alone. You know what he meant."

"Oh I do, but it's clear he doesn't know what _I_ meant."

The redhead sighed. "Well then wouldn't it just be easier to say it outright?"

"Wha- oh fine." She glared at Jaune. "Listen, the fact is that night patrols are static. There a job yes but not much is ever expected from them. We can't prove ourselves like this. If anything we got the least impressive job of all. Even daytime patrols are better since Hunters have to uphold the peace. What do we have to do at night?"

At that moment, a terrified scream ripped through the air. Their heads snapped in the direction of the sound, just a few streets away by the sounds of it.

Jaune swallowed. "You were saying?"

"Come on!" Pyrrha ordered, running past Weiss.

"W-wait a moment!" the girl cried out to no avail. When she realised Pyrrha hadn't heard her, and when Jaune of all people ran past she growled, reaching for her rapier and rushing to follow.

She could see ahead of red hair past Jaune, so that's what she followed, confident Pyrrha knew where she was going.

It didn't mean she was happy with this.

"Why are we running head first into this?" she snapped loud enough for both of them to hear. "For all we know it's nothing, maybe someone jumping at shadows."

"Oh yeah?" Jaune shot back. "Then why have you got your weapon out?"

She scowled. He had too, as did Pyrrha. It was a risk if it did just happen to be someone screaming for a silly reason they might accidentally harm them in their rush.

But something on the back of her neck told Weiss it wasn't so mundane.

"We still shouldn't rush in!" she growled. "We should come up with a plan of attack just in case."

Pyrrha wasn't having it. "Less talk, more running." She said as she tilted, sliding across the pavement as she turned the corner into an alleyway where the source of the scream had come from.

She came to a sudden stop, causing both Weiss and Jane to collide with her. She didn't so much as budge as she looked around.

"There!" she said, pointing upwards to a broken window. Before any of them could say anything Pyrrha took of, hopping up and kicking off the opposite wall, then the next and back as she latched onto the windowsill, hauling herself up and through.

Weiss and Jaune stared. How were they meant to do that?

The blonde coughed.

"Um… I think I'll just use the ladder over there." He said, pointing to the scaffolding that led up to the window. Right… Weiss would do the same for… practical reasons.

It didn't take them much more than a minute to climb up to the opening, though Weiss grumbled as she lifted her leg up and over carefully as to avoid the broken shards of glass. Thank goodness for combat skirts, or she might have had to impale Jaune for seeing too much.

She sighed, brushing herself off. Pyrrha was stood there with her back to them. Still. "Well? She asked. Did you find any…"

Wiess trailed off. Beside her Jaune turned a very pale shade of white.

They'd climbed into a relatively normal looking apartment. It was standard. Standard size, standard furnishing, standard everything really. At most, it had a nice-looking carpet on the floor.

Or it had.

Now, it was stained red, the colour of the woman's blood spilt upon it.

"Oh my god." Weiss whispered.

Jaune turned away and promptly emptied the contents of his stomach out the window and for once she couldn't blame him, since she felt the need to do the very same thing. She forced that feeling down though, as Pyrrha, as pale as them, made her way over to the body. She crouched down, but let her hands hover over the body. She was hesitant to touch it. That would be damaging a crime scene wouldn't it?

Oh god, this was a crime scene!

The redhead swallowed and after a moment's hesitation, tilted the woman's head to the side so she wasn't face down anymore. Weiss steeled herself and knelt down too, getting a… a good look at the… body.

The woman looked somewhere in her late forties, hairs greying on the side of her head. Her eyes were glazed over, but wide, as if she'd been terrified, it would explain the scream.

Her eyes dropped lower and she saw the… cause of death.

Her throat had been slit, brutally and even now of her lifeblood still dripped onto the carpet.

Pyrrha worked her jaw. "She was murdered." She hissed, a sound Weiss wasn't used to hearing from the sometimes overly-nice girl, though in this situation she could well and truly understand it. "She was killed in her own home by some monster."

Weiss shook her head, more to herself than anything. "Who would break into someone's house to do something like that? Like this?"

"Out."

"What?" Weiss turned, glancing towards a still pale, but no linger vomiting Jaune.

"Broke out." He managed. "The window was broken outwards. I saw glass down below."

Weiss bit her lip. A silly part of her doubted him, but she ignored it. Jaune may have been Jaune, but for all she claimed him to be he wasn't an idiot. Her eyes drifted towards the door.

"Pyrrha," she said. "Take a look outside the hallway… check the door."

The other girl did so, hurrying over and taking a look outside. Jaune made his way over to look at the body. He's sheathed his sword but was looking around nervously, as if he thought the attacker might still be in the room with them.

Logically Weiss knew that was ridiculous, Jaune had as clearly stated that they were gone.

She still felt a chill run up her spine though.

"How did she…" he trailed off.

Weiss looked down at her again. "A blade… a knife I think, run right across her throat. She saw it coming I by the look of it, maybe at the last second if her…" she stopped, uncomfortable with finishing that sentence. It looked so awful.

The woman's face was frozen in fear, like the last second she died had locked it in that visage. It made her ill.

Pyrrha walked back at that moment. "Picked. The lock was picked. Whoever it was must have snuck in."

"And she saw it at the last second." Weiss realised. "Does anything look like it was stolen?"

"No, nothing I can see. I mean, we need to have others take a look at it but… Weiss… you know what this looks like don't you?"

"A murder." She nodded. "Not just that, but a premeditated murder. This woman was targeted."

Jaune licked his lips. "We heard her scream… doesn't that mean the killer was just here?"

Weiss' shot up. "You're right! They could be on the streets even now! We should-"

"No."

The snow-haired girl stared at Pyrrha with wide eyes.

" _No?!"_ she screeched. "What do you mean no?! We have to find them!"

"Would we even know what to look for?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Surely we could tell just by looking at them!"

"I'm not so sure." The other girl mumbled. "Listen, even if we try to go after them I doubt we could find a clue for looking in the right direction, and by now they're probably gone."

Weiss' shoulders slumped. "So what should we do then?"

"Call the other Hunters. We need to let them know there was a murder."

* * *

…

…

* * *

"Thank you!" Ruby smiled as a young couple collected their drinks and walked out the door. As soon as they did she let out a breath, relaxing a little. Gosh, talking to strangers was hard.

She was doing okay though, gotten all the orders right at least.

And hey, today wasn't that bad considering the weather.

That being, it was pouring from the heavens much like it had the first day she'd arrived in Vale. Ruby didn't feel all that upset about it despite the grumbles a few of the customers shared with her. for her, as long as she wasn't _getting_ drenched she'd be fine.

And besides, it actually meant not too many people were out and about today. As in, less customers for her to deal with.

Was that selfish? It was probably a little selfish to be thankful for fewer customers just so she didn't have to talk to them.

"Ruby?"

"Ah! Wha…?" she jumped, spinning around to see Fox giving her an amused look.

"You spaced out there for a minute. Are you okay?"

"Hm? O-oh yeah, yeah I'm good. Just thinking about… stuff."

The older teen rolled his eyes. "Well try not to get too caught up, you can do that all you like in a few minutes."

"A... few minutes?!"

"It's almost six." He said, nodding to the clock on the wall."

"Oh right," she managed to laugh. "Sorry, must of missed it."

"Nothing to be sorry for," he waved off. "Can you do me a favour though?"

"Um, sure?"

"I have to go through so stuff out back. Can you deal with that last customer over there, get her order?"

Ruby glanced to where Fox pointed, the corner of the shop beside the window. A lone girl sat there with a laptop laid out in front of her. Ruby could really see much of her other than that she had long dark hair.

"O-oh, yeah I can do that. Leave it to me."

"Thanks Ruby." He smiled, leaving her to it.

He might have missed how she swallowed nervously as soon as he turned. She slapped her hands against her cheeks, what was she doing/ it was just one person! She could deal with _one_ person.

Right?

She glanced over to the lone woman again.

Nope, she couldn't do it. Nu-uh.

Except the only other option would be to stand there awkwardly until the lady realised no one had come to ask for her order and leave Ruby as the sole suspect.

Nope, that was even worse.

So realising she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ruby chose the former, gathering herself up as best she could and making her way over.

She hid a wince at how loud her footsteps sounded in the otherwise empty shop. She could just ignore that right?

"Um, H-hello," she greeted once she was close enough, that being at the _other_ side of the table. "Would you like anything to drink?"

The woman didn't even look up. "Coffee." She said.

…

Okay _that_ didn't help!

"U-um," Ruby began to sweat. "Any particular _type_ of coffee?"

The woman's eyes flickered up a little from her laptop which she'd been typing at breezily Ruby noticed how… bright they looked. "Black."

Eek!

"Um… alright I-I'll be right back." Ruby managed, hurrying as fast as she could in the opposite direction

Coffee wasn't hard to make, especially the kind where you didn't even add anything. She problem was the going _back_ to the woman with it. She was scary.

"H-hear you go." Ruby squeaked, setting the cup on the table.

"Again, the woman didn't look up as she spoke, more focused on the screen in front of her.

Ruby nodded... and then realised she hadn't moved.

The woman noticed too. "Can I help you?"

Ruby felt herself sweat again. "I-I was just curious about um… what uh, what you're doing?"

"What I'm doing?"

"O-on that computer I mean."

"Writing."

"Oh… what about?"

She didn't answer for a minute, _still_ not looking up and Ruby began questioning _why_ on Remnant she'd asked something like that? Why was she even standing there? Was it because if she went back to the counter it would mean standing there awkwardly waiting for her to finish up and leave?

Probably. That was probably it.

When she still got no answer Ruby looked around for some inspiration, something she could say to break the silence which was making her _really_ jittery.

"I-I like your bow!"

The woman blinked, looking up. "What?

Eep! She'd said something wrong hadn't she? Oh no, she couldn't go back now! The only option was to push ahead!

"Your bow," motioning to the black bow atop the woman's head. "It um, looks pretty?"

"Is that a question or an answer?

Ruby brain stalled. "Wha…?

"Are you asking me if it's pretty or telling me?"

"U-m," she stuttered. "Asking? Or? Telling? I mean, questioning? No, wait, can I change my answer?!"

The woman's face twitched. Or was that her lips? Ah! Why was she looking at her lips?!

"You can."

"Telling." Ruby said quickly, then realised she had to expanse on that not to sound weird. "I'm, uh, telling you that it's pretty."

There was a pause. An agonisingly long pause.

"Thank you."

Ruby nearly fell over in relief. But then…

"Would you like to sit down?"

"W-what?!"

Another twitch, though this time Ruby dared not look down. "You've been standing there the whole time… there's no one else here. I wouldn't mind the company."

When the option was to refuse and loiter about the counter? Ruby didn't think she really had a choice.

"O-okay." She agreed, taking a seat opposite the woman said woman seemed satisfied with her decision and went back to her computer, typing away as she took a sip of her coffee.

Again it left Ruby with no idea what to do so being the idiot that she was decided to initiate conversation. "Your eyes."

A pause.

"…Yes?"

Ruby stiffened. What had she planned on saying? Ah! She was already in too deep, she needed to keep going! Forge ahead!

"T-there bright, pretty."  
"So my eyes are pretty now too?"

"I-" She stopped, fighting for a word other than pretty to use that wasn't too much. Yeah, something tame. She didn't want to be weird.

"Beautiful?"

Inside her head Ruby screamed. _Why had she just said that!?_ That was the complete opposite of tame!

"I mean," she rushed out before she could make a bigger fool of herself. A bad idea really. "It's not that they're beautiful, I mean they are but that's not what I- I meant that they're really different, unique? Yeah, I think they're unique, pretty. Or, no not pretty I already said- nice? Is nice a good word? A mean they're really, really gold, and I mean that's not weird, totally not because I mean mine are silver and all so that's okay!"

The woman's shoulder shook. Oh no, had Ruby made her mad? Had she messed up?

"I didn't hear half of what you just said." the older one of them admitted, a small smile crossing her face. Gah! She was looking at her lips again, that was creepy wasn't it?

"I-I just meant that gold looks really nice." Ruby fought to assure. "And I mean, mine are silver so it's not like they're weird or anything."

Again the woman's eyes flickered up, but this time Ruby noticed they were far more… focused. As if she was actually taking her in for the first time. Had she been ignoring her the whole time? No, of course not, she just hadn't been focusing on her. Now she was, and it caused her to squirm in her seat. All the same, the woman saw what she was looking for.

"Huh." She said, sounding genuinely surprised. "Looks like they are. Silver… I've never seen that before."

They were talking about eyes now? Was that good? Ruby didn't know but she was already talking anyway.

"I guess not. I mean your guess is as good as mine. My mom had silver eyes too but it's not like I actually knew a lot of people back home so I guess I can't really say mine are unique. I mean, they might not be?"

"They are." The woman said. "Definitely the first time I've seen silver. Grey sure, but nothing like yours."

"Oh." She deflated. "I guess that's good. That's good right?"

"Sure." she shrugged. "Though I'm not exactly an expert of what's a strange eye colour or not."

There was a pause.

"So…" Ruby tried.

"Yes?"

"What are you uh… what are you writing on your computer?"

Why had she asked that? Ruby had already asked that and the woman hadn't answered. Why did she think she would no-

"A story." She said, cutting off Ruby's train of thought. She looked a little embarrassed by what she was saying. "I'm… writing a story. I do other things obviously, I'm actually a writer for a magazine but everyone needs a hobby so…"

Ruby perked up. "That sounds fun. What kind of stories?" she hesitated. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"Short stores." She answered. "Thing like crime, mystery, drama, that sort of thing."

"That sounds cool."

The woman looked up suspiciously, searching for any traces of a lie.

She found none.

"…Thank you… Ruby."

The younger girl gasped. "H-how do you know my name?!"

A raised eyebrow.

"It's on your name tag?"

"…Oh." She coughed, face heating up in embarrassment. "Right, that makes sense."

"Would you like to know my name?"

Ruby nearly jumped up. "R-really? Y-you want to tell me- O-okay, sure!"

"It's Blake."

"Blake." Ruby repeated, testing it out, feeling it roll off her tongue. It was a nice name. Pretty, it suited her.

And then Ruby's face burned like a thousand suns when she realised she'd just thought of Blake as pretty. Gah! What was _wrong_ with her?!

"T-thank you." She stuttered out, trying to play off the heat that spread across her cheeks.

"Hm? What for?"

"F-for telling me your name. I- I don't really know a lot of people. I'm new to Vale you see."

"Are you now?" Blake hummed. She took a long drink of her coffee, emptying it, standing up and setting down a few lien on the table. "Well I look forward to hearing all about it…"

"Really?"

"Of course." Blake nodded, a small smile on her face. "I'll make sure to come back, you can tell me all about it then, yes?"

"Y-yes!" Ruby nodded frantically. "I mean, yeah, yeah if you want to. I'm here all day anyway so, you know, when ever's a good time for you."

"Of course. Goodbye Ruby."

"Bye Blake!" she waved as the older girl left. Ruby stood there for a few seconds, in no small amount of disbelief. Had she just made a friend?

"Ruby." Fox's voice called from the back. "It's about that time. I'm finishing up back here. Can you close up?"

"Sure thing!" she called back, a smile creeping onto her face despite herself.

Yeah, this had been a pretty good day.

* * *

…

…

* * *

It was about ten minutes after six that there was a knock on the door. Ruby had just finished cleaning up, putting everything away and changing out of her uniform when she heard it.

"We're closed." She called, hoping whoever it was could hear them. It was still raining out there. Wouldn't be nice if they just stood around and got wet.

They must have heard because they knocked again, this time harder. Ruby winced. The door was made of glass. Didn't they know they could break it?

She hurried over, seeing a figure out there through the fogged up glass.

They knocked again, and she heard a muffled curse through the door. Uh0-oh, they didn't sound happy. She swallowed, fiddling with the key. Right as the door clicked open the figure barrelled in, causing Ruby to stumbled back a little.

"Fuckin' hell." The figure muttered. "Could you have taken any longer?"

Ruby blinked. "Y-Yang?" she asked, looking up as the blonde yanked off her hoodie, shaking the droplets of water that managed to pass through out of her hair. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Getting soaked apparently." She grumbled. "Mom wanted me to pick you up for some reason, said you shouldn't walk home alone."

"Oh…" the younger girl said. "Um… thanks?"

Yang scoffed. "Whatever, you ready to go or what?"

"Y-yeah," she nodded, turning back a little. "Fox!" she called. "That's me done for the day I think. I'll be going now."

"Sure thing." His voice came back. "See you tomorrow then, good night."

"Thanks!"

The blonde made a noise. "You done?"

The younger girl sighed. "Yeah, let's go."

Yang grunted as she looked out the window. "Man, it's gonna suck going back out there."

"Here, take this then." Ruby said, offering up an umbrella.

Yang stared. "You took an umbrella with you?"

"Um… yes?" Ruby shrank back a little. "Did… did you not think of that?"

"…No." she admitted. "I thought it would slow me down." She didn't look happy, though miraculously it seemed to be at herself this time.

Ruby still felt a little bit of annoyance aimed at her.

Yang mumbled something as she took the umbrella. Ruby knew better than to ask what she was saying and followed behind as Yang left out the door, making sure to say close enough that the umbrella shielded her too.

It was a mostly quick walk, not many people passing by on account of the rain as Ruby had suspected even as every so often a car would blaze past and threaten to soak them with a weaponised puddle.

All-in-all Ruby decided in her head that today had been a good day.

Which of course was stupid, since it invited challenge, one the world seemingly answered right away as Yang crossed down a narrow street to her apartment that managed to protect them from the downpour.

"Yo Yang!"

Yang stopped dead in her tracks so suddenly Ruby almost bumped into her. She made to ask why she'd stopped when she peered around blonde's body and saw a group of people standing in their way. There were six of them, all looking some varying ages and all looking like trouble.

The man closest to them grinned. "Funny seeing you here. You know I was wondering when you left your home on a day like this where you'd be going. Looks like you picked up a little kid. Mind telling me who they are?"

Yang didn't answer right away and Ruby could have sworn she swathe older girls jaw clench, strain against some kind of invisible force for some reason.

"Shay." She greeted as flatly as Ruby had heard before. It was a good enough tip-off. They weren't friends. "She's a… family friend, staying with us for a while. We're just on our way home actually."

"Really?" Shay hummed, sounding as if he was interested in what she was saying. Ruby didn't buy it, he felt off. "Say… don't know why, but it reminds me of somethin' important… you know what it is?"

"You'll get your money Shay."

"Will I?" he suddenly snapped, making Ruby flinch back as he glared at the blonde. She'd stilled, hands shaking so much she had to stuff them in her hoodies pockets.

"Yes."

"I want to believe you Yang, but you said that last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. I'm getting tired of waiting you know."

"I don't know what you want me to say. I said you'll get your money so you'll get it, okay?"

Shay frowned. "No, not okay. I want the money back and I don't think you actually have it… you don't even have a way to pay it. You get one more month. If you don't have it by then, we'll find other ways for you to pay us back. You hear?"

"… yeah, I hear."

"Good." He motioned to the other ones behind him before turning and leaving the two of them behind. "I'll be expecting it in full."

Yang stood there, completely still. For a good ten seconds. Then a good twenty. A good thirty. A full minute.

Ruby managed to summon the courage to speak.

"W-who was that?"

"No one." Came the clipped response.

"H-he knew you."

"It doesn't matter."

"He said something about you owing him-"

" _I said it doesn't matter!"_ Yang snarled, spinning around to face and tower over the younger girl. "Just fucking drop it. Forget it ever happened!"

Ruby quailed. "B-but-" she was cut off with a squeak as Yang reached out and grabbed her by the front of her hoodie, dragging her forward and up until she was almost dangling off the ground. Yang glared at her angrily.

"Listen to me you shit; you don't say anything you hear? I find out you said a word about this to mom I'll throw you out the fuckin' window. You don't talk about it, you don't mention it, you don't even _think_ aboutit. Do you understand?"

Ruby nodded fearfully, afraid that if she said anything she'd just make the blonde angrier.

Yang stared at her, waiting for her to break, looking for a lie. She must have seen something because she dropped Ruby with a growl, turning as the smaller girl barely managed to stay upright and stalking away.

"W-where are you going?"

"Where do you think dumbass? Home. Hurry the hell up before I leave you behind."

Ruby stared after the girl and let out a heavy sigh. Okay, so the day had taken a turn for the worse… something was going on there, and if Yang didn't want her to mention it to Raven it must have been bad.

She was going to find out what.

* * *

...

 **So yeah, a little bit of an issue between Ruby and Yang right now, not to good on Ruby's end. Still, we'll have to see how that turns out.**

 **You know, I'm not sure if Meek Ruby is something you enjoy reading, but I definitely enjoy writing her. She's the complete opposite of what I've got going in Shattered Fairy Tale. Not so much better or worse I don't think, but definitely refreshing, a change of pace.**

 **We've seen what Weiss is up to as well, and what I've got planned for her little story bit should be fun in its own right. There'll be a lot of character... interactions I'll call them for now.**

 **Anyway, you can tell me what you think if you have anything to say, I'll look forward to reading it and hey, if you did like it maybe you'll stick around.**

 **Until next time.**


	3. The Third Mark

**Still recovering from being sick but I'm at least able to get some proper work done again. If that's the only complaint I have but Winter it's that I always somehow get sick during it. I don't even know why half the time!**

 **Anyway, this is the next chapter up now. AS you've probably guessed this isn't a weekly update fic just yet, I'm not that efficient, but hopefully I can at least keep up as two week per update schedule for now at least.**

 **I'll not go on any longer, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **…**

…

* * *

The Hunters had responded to the reports of a murder. Usually, this sort of thing would be handled by the police. It was a crime after all, not Grimm or anything as such.

However, the fact that it had been three rookie Hunters involved was something that immediately made it a priority of Beacon, especially since at the moment those same three were being questioned by law enforcement.

"So you say you found her like that? Blood all over the place?"

Weiss sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. "Yes," she answered dutifully all the same. "We heard her scream and when I entered the room she was laying face down in her own blood. Pyrrha was the first one in, she could give a more accurate description I suppose… I've already been asked this… do I have to sit here any longer?"

"Sorry." The police officer said. "I have to go through everything like this… we need to collaborate stories, look to see if you remember anything. This one's a strange one."

Yes, as Weiss had heard some fifty times already from other officers repeating themselves over and over again. What did they want them to say? They'd given their statements and accounts and were now forced to sit through this mind-numbing song and dance on loop.

The Schnee could only begin to imagine how Pyrrha and Jaune were dealing with their own respected questionings. She didn't think Jaune was being overly helpful, though she could admit that was probably just because she didn't think Jaune was helpful full-stop.

"Alright." The officer said. "Then can you please run over it one more time then?"

Oh for the love of-

"Thank you officer." A woman's voice said. It was hard, disciplined, authoritarian and enough to alert Weiss at a moment's notice. "I think we should give the young lady some time to recuperate don't you?"

The man turned and upon seeing who had spoken nodded. "Yes ma'am, I'll uh, let you get to your own work."

"Thank you very much."

The officer left them alone, and the older woman let out an exasperated huff. "Honestly, they should know not to bombard you with questions like that. How are you feeling Weiss?" Asked Glynda Goodwitch, secondary most senior ranked Hunter of Beacon and headmistress.

The girl immediately felt herself straighten up at her presence, but the older woman shook her head.

"Calm yourself Miss Schnee. There's no need for that, not now."

She hesitated, but allowed herself to relax just a little, if only because she'd been ordered to. "Miss Goodwitch." She said. "What are you doing here may I ask?"

Then adding upon realising that might have been too informal. "Speaking with me I mean?"

Glynda raised an eyebrow. "You are my student Miss Schnee, I am obligated to care for your safety."

Weiss waved a hand. "There's no need for that ma'am. We didn't involve ourselves in any sort of violence. The culprit was already gone by the time we arrived."

"Your wellbeing then."

"What do you mean?"

Goodwitch sighed. "Weiss," she said, in a much softer voice. "Witnessing death is something most Hunters see eventually on exhibitions and afterwards required some kind of…. Rehabilitation."

Yes, Weiss could understand that, heard of it in a few cases. The Grimm were dangerous after all, they were known for, well… tearing people apart. She didn't see how that translated to this though.

Goodwitch obviously caught that from the confusion on her face.

"You have just seen a woman with her…. A woman has been murdered. You are likely to suffer some kind of uneasiness from this. Perhaps even nightmares."

"Oh, well, I haven't yet." Weiss managed. "I haven't slept since we reported it, too much to do."

Glynda's eyes sharpened. "The report that was nearly two days ago?"

Oh? Had it really been that long already? Weiss hadn't realised. She'd… lost track.

The headmistress sighed. "I've already spoken to Miss Nikos and Mr Arc. Go back to Beacon Weiss. Get some sleep."

 _Sleep_!?

"But what about the culprit?!" she cried. "We can't let this go unpunished!"

"It won't." the older woman cut in, before frowning. "But I can tell what you're thinking. You want to go looking for them…. I would disagree, but apparently Ozpin is of the same mind…. He has allowed you to continue taking night patrols, should you wish to."

Weiss let out a relieved breath. Yes, she would look for the killer. She could do that at least.

Weiss suddenly felt how... tired she was. Her eyes felt so heavy they weighed her down.

"I'll…. I'll get some sleep, yes, thank you Mss Professor Goodwitch."

"You as well Miss Schnee."

Weiss nodded, standing up and turning away as the headmistress did the same, going over to speak with some of the police officers. She was likely overseeing the handing over to Hunter authority.

She shook her head. It didn't, matter, not right now, not to her. She spotted a head of red hair and smiled, making her way over to her companions. Pyrrha and Jaune were whispering to each other quickly, both looking just as tired as her.

When they saw her they sent her a tired wave of their own.

"Hey Weiss." Jaune said. "Professor Goodwitch told us we should go back to Beacon. You coming?"

She nodded. "Yes, she told me the same I suppose it would feel nice to get some rest all things considered."

"Cool," he suddenly winced. "Ugh, I don't feel like making the climb right now."

Pyrrha laughed at that. "Well even if that's the case we don't have much of a choice. Come on, let's try to at least make it halfway before we fall asleep."

The two of them mumbled something but followed Pyrrha as she elected herself to lead the way. Weiss was at least thankful that it was early enough in the morning that few people had woken up. Crowds blocking her way weren't something she thought she'd be able to handle in her state.

Although, the city itself wasn't what filled her dread she noted, but what was to come next.

Jaune let out a lid groan a few minutes later as they approached Beacon's cliff face.

"Stop whining Arc." Weiss grumbled. "You're giving me a headache."

"Sorry." He sighed. "I uh, I think I'm gonna go first. Promise to catch me if I faint?"

"I'll watch as you fall on your head."

"Great, thanks."

What the blond was referring to was the means of were available to people in order to get to the school. That being massive stone steps carved out of the cliff.

They were huge, big enough to let rows of people climb up and down without issue even as they overlooked a sheer drop down below.

The problem was how big they were; how much Weiss would have to climb herself to reach her bed.

The journey up was a slog, leaving her exhausted now just as physically as she was mentally; the strain on her legs painful and her lungs gasping for breath.

What made it worse was how at particular Mistrilan stood in front of her only looking slightly out of breath after the climb. It wasn't a great moment of her day.

Beside her, Jaune finally made it up the steps and after a long wheeze, collapsed on the ground next to her.

Her day was now slightly better.

"Get up Arc," she ordered, perhaps a little bit smugly. (Though she'd never admit it) "You're almost there. At least we don't have classes today."

"Can't… *Wheeze* move… *Gasp* light…*Cough* Fading away."

Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Come on now." Pyrrha chuckled, hoisting Jaune up and flinging his arm over her shoulder. "We're almost there."

"Yay…"

A few people looked there way as they came to the final stretch, some whispering among themselves for some unbeknownst reason. What they could possibly have to gossip about Weiss didn't know, nor really did she care.

Mercifully the three of them arrived at their dorms without any more delays, and Weiss decided to forgo a goodbye in favour of falling into her room and shutting the door. Her bed was right there, her glorious, beautiful bed.

Weiss stripped down as quickly as she could and collapsed onto the soft sheets.

Should she be _in_ them rather than on top? Probably, but thinking about such things could wait. All Weiss cared about was sleep, and so gratefully embraced the darkness as it closed around her.

And then the nightmares Goodwitch had warned her of, took hold.

* * *

…

…

* * *

Ruby was awake. In fact, she felt particularly awake today for some reason. Was it a good thing? She didn't know. It was probably not a bad thing that she felt so awake, so ready, so excited.

She wasn't the only one that noticed either.

"Geez what's with you?" Raven laughed as she sat down at the table. "You're shaking like crazy. You on a sugar high or something?"

Ruby shook her head.

"Yeah you're right, where would I have enough Lien to waste of sugar of all things?" Raven shrugged, lifting a spoon of some bland cereal to her lips. "So what's got you so… that?"

"Um, I don't know." Ruby admitted. "I- I mean, I think I'm just looking forward to later on today. I made a-a friend yesterday."

"Did you now?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. At least I think so. We uh, got to talking and she said she'd see if she could come by today as well so…"

Miss Branwen rolled her eyes. "Kids these days, so excited over little things like that."

"Yeah, stupid if you ask me."

Ruby flinched at the sound of Yang's voice, inching away slightly as the blonde sat at the table.

Raven sent her a dirty look. "Yeah well nobody asked you."

"What? The twerps getting all spastic about meeting a _friend_ like it's big news."

Ruby glowered at the insult Yang slipped in, though if the confidence in which she'd said it with was anything to go by she wasn't going be all too friendly if she caught Ruby glaring at her. She kept it to herself as Raven sighed. "Yang, don't be a brat. There's nothing wrong with Ruby being happy about this. You could do with some kind of spring in your step, anything really would be a miracle. You're always so grumpy."

"Grumpy? Seriously?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, grumpy, or bitchy or whatever you kids call it now. Point is dropped it with the attitude."

That just caused the teen to scowl but it kept her quiet. Ruby shot Raven an apologetic look, but the older woman just shook her head as if to say 'It's just Yang being Yang.'

Either way it didn't fill Ruby with too much confidence.

"You should probably get going kid." Raven told her. "I'm guessing neither of us want to be late for our jobs."

"You going for that interview?" Yang asked suddenly.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "It's a long shot but hey, if there's a chance I'll take it. Need to make more money."

Ruby didn't really get why but Yang looked away at that, with an expression that looked almost… guilty?

She shook her head. No, now wasn't the time for that, nor was it anything she should get involved in. Yang's threat from yesterday still rang true in her head.

Yeah, she should just stay out of it. Way safer that way.

Ruby said her goodbyes to the both of them, hurrying out the door and down the stairs. Her eyes glanced around the neighbourhood as she got onto the street. She was getting used to the look of the place, storing it in her head so it almost looked familiar. Ruby could guess that she probably wouldn't get lost at least in this part of Vale anytime soon.

Maybe she should look around, learn all the backroads too just to make it easier.

But hey, that was something to think about later, right now she had a job to do and as she made it there a few minutes later she managed a smile. Slipping in the door she noticed the café was pretty empty. Probably not something she _should_ have noticed since the place literally just opened but she did anyway.

She shrugged to herself. It didn't really matter at the moment so she ignored it, making her way into the back room and changing into her uniform. When she was finished and stepping back out she saw Fox walk in.

He sent her a little wave. "Hey Ruby."

"Hey Fox." She repeated back mostly on instinct. Did that sound stupid? It probably sounded stupid.

He didn't seem to notice if it was or not. "Listen, just a heads up it's probably going to be a slow day today."

"How come?

"Well did you see the police tape a few blocks up?"

She blinked. "Tape? U-um no, what happened?"

"Don't really know," the teen admitted. "But I heard it was a break in or something. Poor old lady living in one of the apartments was hurt or something as far as I heard."

Ruby gasped.

"I know." He winced. "Anyway uh, people probably aren't going to want to be around this part of town for a day or two. I mean, for good reasons and all but I just thought I'd let you know."

"Oh, t-thanks Fox."

Not exactly the best thing to hear in the morning but… well…. If the lady was only hurt then Ruby knew she shouldn't worry about it too much. It wasn't any of her business any way that was for sure. There was a silver-lining right? Fewer customers for her to deal with and all.

She shook her head. What was wrong with her? That was such a nasty thought when somebody could be hurt!

Ruby's shoulders slumped.

She was an awful person. Totally the worst human being alive.

Fox reappearing in her vision reminded her that she was at work suddenly, and she let out a little squeak as she rushed to the back to put on her uniform. As soon as she had it on she heard the bell ring.

And the rest of the day went by in a blur.

There were still plenty of customers. Some people wouldn't let something like a crime scene deter them from their daily dose of coffee. It gave her something to do at least, even if personally Ruby would have been fine if nobody showed up.

For the most part anyway. If only one person decided to come by Ruby would have liked it to be Blake. But would she? She has said she would, but the more Ruby thought about it, the more she realised it might not be true.

Blake was still a stranger after all. They'd only met once. Why would she promise some weird, socially awkward girl that she'd take time out of her day to come back?

Ugh. She'd been so stupid to believe that! What had she been thinking?

"Are you okay?"

It seemed like whatever mood Ruby was giving off, Fox had noticed it, and judging by the look he was giving her he wasn't sure what to make of it.

The younger girl forced a smile onto her face. "Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "No offence but, you're acting a lot different than you were yesterday. You were far more… cheery. Is something wrong?

She shook her head. "No, really Fox I'm….fine. Just me being silly."

He didn't look entirely convinced but sighed either way. "Well alright…it's getting late anyway. We don't have long until closing time."

"Wait really?" she blinked, turning to stare at the clock. Had… she blacked out or something? When did it get so late?

He shot her a knowing smile. "You know, if you can work half-aware the whole day like that I worry you might put me out of a job."

"W-what?!" she gasped. "N-no! I wouldn't do that! "I mean they wouldn't fire you just because I did a good job would they? There's no way I could do this all by my-"

"I'm kidding." He chuckled, amused at the way Ruby panicked. "Really, you shouldn't get so worked up about things like that."

Ruby shrank a little. "Sorry." she mumbled.

He shook her head. "There's nothing to apologise for." He looked around. "Still, there's nobody here right now. I've got a few things I need to do out back, why don't you, I don't know, take a break until it's time to close up alright?"

"O-okay. Sure."

Fox nodded and left her alone.

And coincidently enough, right as he did, the door opened.

And suddenly Ruby's eyes lit up.

"Blake!"

The dark-haired woman smiled at her, looking around curiously. "Not many people here today. Is something wrong?"

"What? Oh, no," she waved off. "Something happened a few streets up that's technically bad for business. It should be fine by tomorrow."

"I see." She probably didn't, but Ruby thought it was nice that she pretended it was.

"So um, would you um, like something to drink?"

"Yes please," she nodded, "The same as last time if you can."

"You got it." She nodded, hurrying over to the counter. It only took her a few minutes, and when it was done Blake had taken a seat in the same booth as she had the day before with her computer already out in front of her. Ruby hurried over with her own Coffee in hand, nearly tripping as she did. Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-yes, why?"

"You seem a little more frantic, are you sure something didn't happen?"

"With me? N-no, really." She looked away slightly in embarrassment. "I mean, it's stupid."

Blake hummed. "It couldn't be that bad, but if you don't want to tell me then don't."

She said that, but it was obvious to Ruby that she wanted to know. People always did that. They said they weren't interested in a topic that they clearly were to ease the tension but it wasn't like it actually worked. It just made Ruby feel awkward when she still didn't give them an answer.

So she was stuck in another dilemma. Tell her and feel embarrassed or don't tell her and leave it awkward.

Considering Ruby would rather die than be in an awkward situation the choice was clear, even if it wasn't nice.

"It's just," she mumbled. "I was worried you wouldn't come today."

Blake looked surprised. "Really? Why?"

Ruby didn't want to look up at her. "I don't know… I started thinking you were weirded out by me the other day and wouldn't come back. I mean, you could have just said you would come back today but, you know, not actually do it. I mean I'm basically a stranger right? Why would you want to come back just to talk to me?"

"That's definitely a question."

Ruby flinched. "Y-yeah so… yeah, that's what I thought."

"Uh-huh." Blake nodded. Suddenly she smiled. Ruby was starting to notice that Blake's smiles were small things, a tiny upturn of her lips or something equally minute. Was it weird that she noticed that? It was probably really weird. "Well if it makes you feel any better I have plenty of reasons for coming back."

Ruby looked up hopefully. "Y-you do?"

"Of course." She hummed. "It's a nice place to get a good tea or coffee for one. It's quiet too, something I like to enjoy whenever I can. It's close to my work too, so it's not too far to walk."

"R-right." Of course that made sense. Blake was here because it wasn't too much of a hassle. It was convenient for her, not too far out of the way. That made complete sense.

"Not to mention," she went on. "I said I would be here didn't I?"

"I mean… yes but…" she trailed off.

Blake chuckled. "When I make a promise like that I feel it's only right to keep it. I said I would be here so I am…" Blake's smile turned coy. "And besides, I think I just enjoyed talking to you."

And suddenly Ruby was blushing up a storm. Her cheeks felt like they were burning all of a sudden and she almost couldn't get her words out. "R-really?" Gah! She needed to stop blushing already! What would Blake think if she went red from such a little complement?

Blake's laugh signalled that it was too late for hiding it and Ruby wilted as the dark-haired woman covered her laugh with one hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, still laughing lightly. "I was expecting you to react like that but not as severely."

"That's mean." Ruby whined, and as soon as she did, inwardly chastised herself for sounding so… childish.

All the same it got another laugh from Blake.

"Of course. Of course. I'll remember not to do it again if it's really too much for you."

"Please." Ruby begged.

After that they fell into conversation. It was mostly one-sided, with Ruby filling the silence with all kinds of chatter, Blake offering her opinion on one subject or the other but altogether staying relatively quiet. Not that that bothered Ruby at all. The fact that the older woman was interested in what she had to say and wasn't just putting up was her was good enough. They did eventually come to a topic they'd left off the other day.

"What was it like?" Blake asked, taking a sip of her still warm coffee.

"Hm?" Ruby blinked, having finished hers a while ago. Blake was a lot slower for some reason, like she was savouring it, or maybe she used it as a method of breaking the conversation up. That was what people did right? They'd have something to drink so that when they need to give themselves time to think they didn't have to wait in silence.

Did that mean Blake was doing that? Did it mean she was on guard with her? Did it mean she was doing something wrong or was that just how Blake was?

Ugh, Ruby hadn't a clue. Could she just be imagining the whole thing? She didn't even know.

Blake of course couldn't hear her thoughts, and so carried on like there was nothing wrong.

"You said you weren't from Vale didn't you? That would mean you're either from Mistral, Atlas or Patch… it's Patch right?"

"I-it is." She confirmed. "How did you um, know exactly?"

"The accent."

Ruby blinked. "I… have an accent?"

"To me? No, and that's the point. People from Mistral tend to pronounce all their words a bit slower and more clearly as if they're giving speeches while Atlesians are… well you know they're from Atlas as soon as you hear them. They sound all high and mighty for all they say isn't at all special. Compared to them you come off as… well not plain but I suppose that's the best way to describe it."

"Whoa." Ruby gasped. She'd never known that. Blake sounded so educated when she explained things to her. It felt like she was learning something amazing. "So I sound the same as the people in Vale then?"

"Hm, not quite," she said. "You pronounce your 'A's a little stronger but that's about it."

"That's so cool.

Blake eyes' widened in surprise. "Well… mean… it's really not. I just happen to know stuff like that because of my job I told you it was magazines remember?"

"Yeah?"

"Well that was a bit of a fib. It's more to do with the Vale times. I don't do any fieldwork as it. I'm more of an indoors reporter if you want to describe it as that. It just means I've learnt how other people talk when I look at something to quote them by."

"That's even cooler!" Ruby insisted. "You're a reporter _and_ a writer?!"

"W-well I'm not a-" Blake looked away as her cheeks began to redden a little. "I'm not an author or anything. I just like to write words on a page, my stores aren't even that good."

"How do you know?"

"H-huh?"

"How do you know they're not any good?" Ruby asked. "Has anyone ever read them?"

"I… no, no one's read them but honestly I just write to write." she admitted. "I don't have any real plot that I stick with. I kind of flitter from one idea to the next before eventually getting bored of it or realising it's not going anywhere."

"But that doesn't mean they're not any good though!" Ruby said. "What if you just needed someone to talk to or bounce ideas off of?"

That received a raised eyebrow.

"And that would be you would it?"

Blake blinked in surprise when Ruby suddenly paled. "N-no I didn't- I didn't mean it like that. I- oh my gosh I'm so sorry I went too far didn't I? J-just forget what I said it's stupid anyway I can't believe I-"

"Stop." The older woman ordered and Ruby's jaw clicked shut so fast she worried she might have chipped a tooth.

Blake shook her head in disbelief. "You really need to calm down. I'm not going to bite your head off if you say something I don't like. I'm a big girl, I can take it."

"R-right. I'll… remember that."

"Good…"

There was a pause.

"I'll bring something tomorrow."

Ruby blinked. "What do you mean?"

This time it was Blake who couldn't meet her eyes. "One of my stories… I'll bring the first few chapters with me tomorrow for you to read… if you want to." The dark-haired woman looked so embarrassed by the offer, it felt as if she might retract it at any moment. This was a personal thing to her.

Ruby of course being Ruby didn't exactly notice that, but either way she beamed for it.

"Really? You'd let me!? Thank you! I-I'll do my best to look over it and- you know, help with it if I can. Not that I think I could write better than you or anything," Ruby suddenly rushed to assure. "Just that I could help you or something. I mean, not 'or something' I'll definitely try to help if I can and-"

"Ruby," Blake smiled. "Breathe in-between your words before you pass out."

The younger girl blushed. "Right… sorry."

Blake shook her head in amusement. "We got off topic didn't we? I was asking you what it was like in Patch wasn't I?"

"Oh," Ruby perked up. "Yeah, you were. I mean, I don't know if there's much I can do to describe it very well. I was uh, kind of a shut-in I guess. I went into town sometimes but mostly I just stayed at home."

"What was it like when you _were_ in town? How different was it to Vale?"

"Um… it's cleaner?"

Blake chuckled. "Yes I would think so with this place being a city and all that, but I mean more descriptive. What did it look like, sound like? I've never been so I was wondering if you could give me a clear image. Could you do that?"

"I…" Ruby trailed off, thinking to herself. Like she'd said she wasn't the most outdoorsy kind of person. Really she only went into town when she'd needed to or there was nothing else to do.

But… she could picture it clearly all the same if she tried.

She tapped her finger along the table. "Green," she said. "It's green. I know that's not exactly the most descriptive term but it's the one that fits most of the year. It's not like here with big grey buildings of stone and metal with paint and lights the only thing to give it colour. This was… natural I guess you could say. Everywhere you looked you could see green whether it was the grass or the moss on the houses or the trees that spread in the distance all over the island."

"I lived in a cottage a little out of the way but most people lived together. Houses were tight-knit and everybody knew each other at least a little I think. Everything was made out of wood but it was odd because it wasn't the same wood. Patch is weird in that it has like, three separate forests all with different kinds of trees right next to each other."

She smiled as she recalled it. It was so strange. She'd only been gone a week and yet it felt so nostalgic already.

"So it was like, sometimes you'd have houses made of Oak, some out of Pine or Birch and sometimes you'd get to see a house made out of all three because people didn't waste time on paint. They wanted to keep the natural look even if sometimes it looked a little funky. I think it was best in the autumn though." She said. "When all the trees turned a gold sort of colour and the wind would pick them up and swirl them around and the colours from peoples houses would sort of mix in the distance with the trees and the sky looks so… soft when the sunset. Especially when it turned pink."

"The people were cool too, they were always talking about something, even if you weren't paying attention you might have heard about how someone's son was doing well or how someone had renovated their kitchen or something else random that just made it feel homey. I didn't exactly have any friends but even without them I could always tell the kids were nice. They always found something to do."

She closed her eyes.

"I think I miss the smell though. It probably sounds weird but Vale smells… like nothing. Or nothing _really_ I mean, it's damp and new in places and old in others. I think it's more like there's no recognisable smell. It's hard to explain. Patch smells like… freshly cut grass and chestnut I think. And in Fall you can smell honey for some reason. I never really asked why though but… yeah. That's pretty much all I can think of."

Silence. Ruby opened her eyes and glanced up are at the older woman.

Blake was staring at her.

"Was um… that wrong?"

"N-no!" Blake assured her quickly. "That was more than I'd hoped for. You were-" she coughed. "A-anyway, thank you Ruby. That was great. Perhaps you should go into marketing, you certainly gave me a good idea what it might be like."

Ruby scratched the back of her head as she laughed. "Yeah I guess so. Other people could probably tell you more though, and it's not like I was all over Patch. I mainly just stuck to my house, didn't have any friend or anything to make me leave you know?"

"Oh?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Your parents didn't encourage you to get out and take up any hobbies or anything?"

"…" Ruby looked away, and Blake suddenly felt like she'd stepped on something she shouldn't have.

"O-oh… I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"No, no it's fine." Ruby told her, smiling again. "It's not like you could have… anyway why don't we talk about something else?"

"Right." Blake relaxed. "That would probably be-"

"Oi!" a voice came as the door opened with a chime. "Where are you at runt?"

Ruby swivelled in her seat far enough to see behind her, and to see a mane of unkempt blonde hair make its way into the café.

She didn't look at all happy to have to pick up Ruby again.

It only took a moment for her eyes to find the younger girl and when she did she scowled, stuffing her hands in her hoodie as she made her way over.

Ruby sent her a feeble smile. "H-hey."

"Don't 'hey' me." She grunted. "You coming or not?" Yang's eyes roamed up and down and she frowned. "You're not even out of your uniform yet for god's sake."

"U-uh yeah, sorry. I guess I got distracted."

"With what?"

"With me."

Yang's eyes flickered suddenly to the dark-haired woman and flashed as if she'd just then noticed she was there.

"Huh… so you're the runts 'friend' then. Wonderful." The blonde's tone made it clear she really didn't think so.

Blake's eyes narrowed.

"E-eheh… I'll um, just go get ready to go then."

"You go do that."

She swallowed and hurried away, eager to get back before… well before Yang could scare Blake away. She rushed into the breakroom to see Fox making a call on his scroll.

"Hey," he said. "I thought you'd already gone home."

"Doing that right now." She smiled. "I'll be going, so you Fox."

"Before you do," he called out. "I uh, just got a call. I was just told that a few Hunters might be around the café tomorrow. You can take the day off if you want."

Ruby blinked. "Take the day off? Why would I do that?"

"You… don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Well," he mumbled. "I mean, it's not a really big deal, it's just that Hunters tend to have a reputation of being… abrasive."

"I thought everybody liked them?"

He snorted. "Not Really. It's different waving them off past the walls than it is actually having to deal with them but… I guess if you have no problem with it then I'll see you tomorrow. It's just courtesy for upper management to let us know."

"Well, thanks then Fox. See you tomorrow then."

"You too."

She nodded, walking past him and a few minutes later had changed into her regular clothes, making her way back out.

Yang was waiting for her, as was Blake.

Ruby shot a smile the dark-haired woman's way. "So um, see you tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Oh geez this is just sad." Yang scoffed. "How much more awkward can you be runt?"

Blake shot a glare her way, which Yang just took with a smirk. "You looking for something sweetheart?"

"From you? Not a chance." Ruby stared up at her friend, shocked from how _nasty_ Blake sounded all of a sudden.

"Whatever," she shrugged. "Kind of weird that you're hanging around with a kid if I was to give my two-Lien by the way."

"Yes well, I wasn't asking for your opinion to be honest."

"Aw why not?" The blonde mocked. "You don't even know me and you're already breakin' my heart."

"Yang Xiao-Long."

And all of a sudden Yang stiffened.

Blake's eyes were sharp, if Ruby was to describe it… they almost looked predator-like.

"I know all about you… wrote a story about you along with pretty much every other paper around. Your reputation carries, so forgive me if I'm not entirely trusting of you."

Yang didn't respond with a snappy remark or snide comment like Ruby expected her too. Instead, she hunched up her shoulders, pulled up her hood and scowled.

"We're going."

It wasn't a request, and as Yang stalked out of the café – Ruby winced as she nearly shattered the door on her way out – the younger girl gave Blake a wave.

"See you tomorrow!"

Blake's eyes still trailed after the blonde, but she nodded all the same. "You too."

The bell chimed as Ruby ran out. She knew Fox was closing down the café, so the fact she was leaving Blake on her own didn't even cross her mind.

Either way, she caught up to Yang a few moments later.

She practically radiated a bad mood Ruby was starting to worry this might be a trend.

But… now she was stuck wondering.

Blake had known who Yang was, she'd said a lot of people did, that the _papers_ did, and for bad reasons from the sounds of it

Why on Remnant was that?

* * *

...

…

* * *

 **I guess this counts as a short chapter, but either way it's the beginning of things. Eventually people are going to take notice of a certain problem on their door steps.**

 **Talking equals spoiling in this particular story though, so for now, I leave this with you, till next time then.**


	4. The Fourth Mark

There was a silence in the café.

Once again, it was nearing the end of the day, and once again, Ruby and Blake sat across from each other.

The dark haired girl watched silently, nothing, not a single emotion on her face to betray what she was thinking as Ruby shuffled through a stack of papers.

"So?"

Except her voice. Blake's voice, her tone hinted at… well, not nervousness persay, but she was definitely wondering what the younger girl thought of it.

"Hmm…" Ruby hummed, eyes scanning over the pages before her.

Blake resisted the urge to frown as she waited, but couldn't help the slight fidgeting her hands did. She took a sip of coffee to distract herself, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was getting late.

According to Ruby not a lot of people had been in today, and she couldn't blame them.

Apparently, Hunters had come to visit.

People must have gotten wind of it and avoided the place like the plague. Blake might have felt a little bit worried for Ruby's employment, what, at having two days in a row with few customers, thought the younger girl just smiled and assured her that the Hunters had compensated them for the trouble.

That was nice she had to admit, though…

It wasn't the only problem.

Ruby had told her as soon as she'd heard from the Hunters investigating.

The rumour that an old woman had been robbed a few streets away had flittered through her own info streams, a lot of people knew about it. It was awful yes, but not too bad, people would forget about it soon.

Turns out, it was worse than that.

She'd been murdered.

It was horrible, but the news hadn't been broken yet. Blake had a feeling her boss would want her to cover it though.

Ruby coughed and she shook her head free of those thoughts. Now wasn't the time for it… she'd look into it later.

"So," Blake asked again. "What did you ah… think of it?"

Ruby tilted her head in thought, trying to think of the right words.

"It was uh… good? Sort of?"

The dark haired girl wilted. "Sort of?"

Ruby paled. "I-I mean, it's not _bad_ or anything, it just comes off as… well listen. It's an interesting premise, fantasy mixed with mystery and all that, I understand it, and it's clear and easy to read, no mistakes or anything like that I can see... it's just… well…"

She hesitated and Blake sighed. "I asked you to give your thoughts Ruby, go ahead."

"It's just a little robotic."

The older girl blinked, looking up. "Robotic?"

Ruby nodded. "Y-yeah. It's the way it flows I think; there's nothing wrong with it, it just feels like the way you're writing it you don't give the reader enough credit. This is, what, the first few chapters?"

She nodded.

"Right, so, it's like you're going out of your way to explain every little detail that doesn't need to be explained you know? Every little thing they say and do you go a little too much in detail. I don't really have any chance to think for myself."

"I… I see."

"It's just a flow thing. I mean it's not like I'm an expert or anything but I think you need to trust your audience a bit more to figure things out themselves."

"Yeah." Okay, that was fair, Blake could admit. She could see that what Ruby was saying wasn't wrong, even if it stung a little bit to hear it.

It must have shown on her face because Ruby shot her a smile. "I mean, you write news stories, don't you? I guess that sort of style doesn't suit considering it's your job to give as much info to people as possible."

Blake smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she let out a chuckle. "I guess so. Most people are actually uh… well…"

"Stupid?" Ruby offered.

"Maybe." She laughed. "Or more like they only take things at face value. You have to explain _everything_ in a news story or they might get the wrong idea."

"Yikes. Has that ever happened before?"

"To Me? No. There are a few stories about it around the office though. It's usually a big deal when media outlets are accused of lying. Whether they are or not they have to prove to the public that they're trustworthy."

"I can imagine."

"Actually…" Blake said. "That reminds me of something I wanted to ask you, if it's alright with you."

"Um, yeah sure." Ruby blinked. "What is it?"

Blake hesitated for a second. "What do you… I mean what do you know about that girl from before? Yang Xiao-Long."

"Em… not a lot really." Ruby admitted. "I've been wondering a few things about her myself." Then realising how that might have sounded. "N-not that I think there's anything wrong with her persay! We've just been on the wrong foot since we met."

"And how did you meet?" Blake prompted. "You don't seem like the kind of person to get involved with people like her."

Right, ignore the 'people like her' comment.

"Well…" Ruby winced. "It turned out she's my half-sister."

Blake stared, blinking slowly.

Then blinked again.

"Are… you serious?"

"U-um yeah. When I moved to Vale I found her mom. Miss Branwen's been letting me stay with them since then. Yang uh… doesn't like me I don't think, but she's okay I guess."

"I… see." The look on Blake's face made it seem like she didn't. "No offence but you two don't really look like you're related."

"I guess so," Ruby shrugged. "We have the same dad though."

The older girls' brow scrunched in confusion. "That… makes things even more confusing if you're living with her mother."

"Oh, Miss Branwen's nice. A little scary at first but she's dealt with, well a lot of things because of me I think. The fact she let me stay with her when I had no place else to go makes me sure of it."

"I suppose I can't argue with that." Blake muttered.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. "Actually there was something I wanted to ask you, about Yang I mean."

"There is?" Blake looked up, surprised. "I don't really know what _I_ could tell you."

"You mentioned something yesterday, you did a story on her or something?"

"Ah," Blake nodded. "Yes I did."

"Could you… tell me about it? I don't really feel brave enough to ask her myself."

Blake didn't look sure. "Considering things between you two… maybe I shouldn't."

"Oh."

"But don't worry though," Blake went on quickly. "It wasn't anything illegal. It was just… talked about a lot."

"Was it a big deal?"

"I… yes, it was, but I can see now, it's a personal thing. Honestly I feel kind of bad for bringing it up last time. She was just rubbing me the wrong way and it was the first thing I thought of to get her back for it."

Ruby made to say something when her scroll buzzed. She blinked, looking down at her pocket and flushing.

"Can I u-um-"

Blake chuckled. "Go on ahead."

The younger girl smiled, lifting the device to her ear.

"Hello?"

Blake took a sip of her coffee, intentionally blocking out Ruby's voice as much as she could. It would be rude to pry after all.

The call ended a minute later and Ruby stood up. Blake took it as her cue to do the same.

"News?"

"Just that Yang isn't picking me up today. Something about needed to stay at home for something. It just means I should probably get going before it gets dark."

"Probably a good idea." The older woman agreed. "That… trouble up the road will probably be on the news by tonight. Staying out at night probably isn't the best idea for a little girl like yourself."

"Hey!" Ruby pouted. "I'm almost sixteen! I'm not a little girl."

"Right," Blake rolled her eyes good-naturedly. The sight of Ruby pulling a face like that wasn't helping her cause in Blake's eyes that was for sure. "My mistake then."

"Oh come on. Talking about me. Not like it'll be much safer for you."

She shrugged. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Oh yeah? W-well so do I."

" _Really_?"

"Really!"

"Okay, I believe you." Her tone made it clear she really didn't. "You should get going. Same time next time?"

Ruby let out a huff. "Yeah, sure. Well… see you Blake. Keep safe I guess."

"You too Ruby. You too."

* * *

…

…

* * *

Like she'd said, it started getting dark as Ruby made her way home.

Not many people were on the streets, especially as she came to the parts around her new home.

The streetlights shone down, and in the distance she could hear a dog barking, but apart from that, nothing really. There were a few strangers in hoods, not looking her way and standing around by themselves.

Ruby made sure not to look their way. They were probably trouble, and that wasn't the sort of thing she wanted to bring back to Miss Branwen.

Or was that unfair? She didn't really know them, and just because they wore hoods didn't mean they were bad news. Yang wore hoodies a lot of the time.

…Okay, maybe that wasn't the best justification.

Ugh, why was she even going over this? She'd passed them now. They'd taken no interest in her, and she'd taken time to avoid them. That should be it over. Why was she still playing this conversation on her head?

Probably because of the news of murder going around now.

Murder was… a big thing. One on its own, not too bad, but since the police hadn't caught whoever was responsible for it, it had people nervous. It made _her_ nervous. Just thinking about it made her feel weird.

Those thoughts wouldn't last long thankfully, as just a few minutes later she made it to the apartment complex.

Ruby really needed to come up with a better name than that. Did it have a name? Probably. There was likely a sign around or something. Maybe the guy at the reception knew the name. Probably. But Ruby didn't dare approach him. He was pretty scary looking for one.

Again, another thing that didn't matter.

Her feet carried her up the stairs as she thought through the scenarios of talking to him, and by the time she came to her door, she'd concluded that she would save herself the bother and _not_ do that.

"Hey," She called into the apartment as she shut the door behind her. "I'm back."

"…Hey." Came a grunt from the couch. Raven lay on it haphazardly, head back and staring at the ceiling and her legs splayed out. There were bags under her eyes and she looked… tired.

Disappointed.

"Um… are you okay Miss Branwen?"

A pause, and a sigh. "I'm fine kid. Just… just things, you know?"

"Probably." She said, taking off her coat and sitting on the sofa across from the older woman. "Sometimes 'things' are a lot for me to deal with."

"Heh, I'd say it's nice that you understand but that would probably be a little petty." She let off another sigh and sat up straighter. "Don't mind me kid, how was your day. You talked to that friend of yours again?"

Ruby blinked. "Oh, uh, yeah, I did, how did you know?"

"Just a guess," She shrugged. "Yang mentioned her the other day, didn't sound all too happy about it but… well that's just Yang I guess."

"Right…" Ruby trailed off. There wasn't much she could say to that now was there? "So, um, where is Yang anyway? She called to let me know she wasn't going to be there to walk home with me so…"

"She did?" Raven hummed, looking a little exasperated as she shook her head. "That kid. Listen, it's nothing. Guess she's just… taking this personally or something. She's in her room right now, not sure what she's doing. She got really upset when she found out."

"Found out what?" Ruby asked curiously.

Raven stared at her for a moment, those crimson eyes making the younger girl squirm. Eventually though, the older woman sighed.

"Was at a job interview this morning, been going over all my material for weeks thinking about it, rehearsed everything I was going to say and honestly, I really thought I was gonna get the gig." She shrugged breezily, but by the way her face twisted downwards was enough for Ruby to tell it upset her. "I didn't. They passed me up for some other chick… probably, or the other dozen and a half people that probably went for the job. I think I knew I wasn't going to get it. It was like, uh, an accountancy placement. Although saying it allowed like that maybe I didn't really stand a chance against all these other suits."

"Why…" Ruby bit her lip. This sounded like something she shouldn't have been asking, but Raven was letting her. Did she want to talk about it or was she just being intrusive? "Why do you think you didn't stand a chance?"

"I…" Raven looked away. "I don't know. Lots of stuff really. I know it wasn't an issue of not being able. I mean, I have the credentials for it and everything. I was no slacker in school but… you know, I used to work in security, way back."

Ruby looked up. "You did? What kind?"

"The border kind." She explained. "I was one of the smocks that patrolled the city walls for threats, made sure people stayed in and warned others to keep things out. I liked it. It was a fun job and there was plenty to do, made me feel important for the few years I got to do it."

"Why only a few years, what happened?"

"…Yang happened." She admitted quietly. "After I had Yang and your uh… pops left me, I had to look after her myself. I'm not even really sure how it happened but I kind of lost control. I couldn't work the walls and look after my girl at the same time, so I picked one. Not that I regret which one I picked." Raven said quickly. "I just… By the time Yang was old enough to look after herself and I could go back to a job, it was too late. This city is pretty sh- uh, crappy when it comes to its unemployed. I'd been out of the game too long. Security didn't want me back, and getting another job's been hard when it's been… what, nearly sixteen, seventeen years since I've been in one?" She shot Ruby a weak smile. "Yeah… that sort of break doesn't warm you up to employers, sure they'll say that they would love to have you, but they'll always come up with some reason why you're not suited to the job."

That… sounded so unfair! How was that okay? If Miss Branwen wanted to get a job, work hard, then how could they just turn her away?

"So what do you do then?" she asked. "If you aren't working now then what do you do?"

"Oh I'm working," the woman grunted. "It's just not the kind of job that can sustain two people… it's not the sort of job you want to tell people you have."

Ruby swallowed. "Is… is it…"

"Hmm?"

"Y-you know…" Ruby really didn't want to say it, but by the looks of it Raven understood what she was saying.

"Oh god no!" She recoiled. "Damn it kid, how far is your mind in the gutter?"

"S-sorry." Ruby shrank down. "I-it's just you said it wasn't something you wanted to tell other people about so I just thought."

Raven shook her head, a mixture of disbelief and amusement written on her face. "I'll take that as you not wanting to offend me with it. No it's nothing like that." She ran a hand through her hair. "I work as a janitor." She sighed, looking self-conscious. "I know it's not a bad job or anything… but it's not exactly where I saw my life going, you know?"

"I… guess so."

"It's not just that though." Raven shrugged. "Like I said, not exactly the best paying gig. My brother drops in from time to time, helps out when he can. If anything that's what keeps us afloat through this crap."

Ruby looked down at her lap. "I'm not helping… am I?"

"What'd you mean?"

"I mean me being here," she lamented. "I show up and you've got even more problems to deal with. Yang even said it, I'm another mouth to feed."

Raven gazed turned sharp. "She said that?"

"I… y-yeah."

She let out a breath. "Don't mind Yang. She's… well she's a teenager and she's going through a lot of stuff herself. You don't take anything she says to hear 'kay? Besides, it's not like you're just lazing about the place. You're working hard aren't you?"

Ruby nodded.

After a moment, Raven let out a soft chuckle. "Weird that."

"W-what is?"

"Nothing. Just thinking how strange it is that you're so easy to talk to."

"I am?"

" _I_ think so," the woman shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe it's because you're so cute."

"C-cute!?"

"What nobody's called you cute before?"

" _No!"_

"Oh well that's a crime if I ever hear one."

Raven grinned, standing up and reaching out a hand to ruffle Ruby's hair. "Come on. I'm going to start dinner. You can help me yeah?"

The younger girl nodded, standing up as Raven made her way over to the kitchenette "O-okay, but uh, I'm not sure how much help I'll be. And don't call me cute!"

She chuckled. "Sure, and don't worry about it. Think of this as your first lesson. I'm going to teach you how to cook kid."

* * *

…

…

* * *

The clicking of high heels echoed through the otherwise empty streets.

Their owner's walk was quick, purposeful, and not at all considerate of those beside her.

"Weiss can you just slow down for a second?" Jaune groaned. "It's not a race around town or anything."

"I will not Arc." she snapped. "For all we know the killer is about to spring on some unsuspecting civilian and we won't be there to stop them because _you_ wanted to slow down."

Pyrrha sighed from her other side. "Don't you think you're exaggerating just a little bit Weiss? I think Jaune's right. Running around like this isn't going to get us anywhere."

"If we keep up this pace to cover more ground we're more likely to find them."

"You mean the same way we did last night and _didn't_ find anything?"

"Are you trying to suggest something Arc?"

"Just calm down a little Weiss," The blond said. "Aren't you worried about missing something this way?"

"Miss what exactly?"

"I don't know," He sighed. "It's not like I have experience catching killers."

The heiress scowled, but Pyrrha rested a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "How about we take a break?"

"A break? We've only been on patrol for an hour?"

"Yes," The redhead admitted. "But it's clear that you haven't gotten the proper rest you need."

"And how could you know that?" she frowned imperiously.

"Weiss," she spoke gently. "I can see the bags under your eyes."

The mention made the Atlesian girl pause, a hand raising up to her face. She… did feel tired.

"Fine." She grumbled. "Let's find somewhere to sit down."

The duo nodded, following as Weiss made her way down the street to a bus shelter. It was empty – thankfully – and clean enough that Weiss let out a grateful sigh as she sat on the bench.

When she let out a more tired sigh however, Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look.

"Are you sure you're okay Weiss?"

"What?" she looked up. "No I'm… I'm fine Pyrrha. Just tired. I… haven't been getting much sleep recently."

"Is it because of…"

Weiss scowled as Jaune trailed off. "Yes Arc, it's because of the woman from before. I've been thinking about her, happy?"

"Not really." He muttered. "I can't get her out of my head either."

"None of us can." The champion spoke calmly. "But Weiss. If this is affecting your sleep then perhaps you should let the professors know."

She shook her head. "If I do they'll take me off of this case. No. I need to find whoever did this and bring them to justice. Then I can sleep soundly."

"That doesn't mean you should push yourself.

She glared at the blonde. "And what you'd you have m do? We need to find them, this killer, before they strike again! I can't do that if I'm sleeping on the job."

"You can't do the job if you're too tired to stand up."

Weiss bit down on her tongue. Reluctantly, she had to admit that Arc as correct. Miraculously.

"Fine." She snapped. "Then what do you suggest I do?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Rest during the day. If you have to, ask for a few hours off from classes to rest. I'm sure professor Port would let you. You're his favourite."

That… was true.

"That doesn't solve the issue of not sleeping." She muttered.

"Well maybe you just need to unwind a little then. Pyrrha, you remember hearing about that coffee shop?"

"Hm?" she blinked. "Oh you mean the one near… the crime scene?"

"Yeah, exactly. "You could go there during the day and since it's close to where the killer stuck last you still might find something."

"I… suppose." She sighed. We'll see. For now let's just focus on-"

A scream, very much like the one they'd heard just nights before, cuts through Weiss' words.

They're on their feet in an instant.

"Which way?" the heiress hissed.

"Right!" Jaune grunts, moving. "It's the same direction as-"

"The last one." Pyrrha finishes, unveiling her rifle. "It's close!"

Weiss doesn't need to be told twice. She's already running.

The streets are let, empty and wide. That's good, because it means when her eyes land on the apartment complexes, she can see the windows, and the figure that climbs out of one of them.

"There!" she cried, pointing to them. There a good five stories up, but somehow, they must have heard her because their head snaps towards them.

The figure's face is concealed by something, a mask!

Weiss' eyes widen as right in front of her the stranger _dives_ off the side of the building and gasps at the thud she can hear as she loses sight of him.

And then the sound of footsteps.

"Rooftops!" Jaune swears. "He's running on top of them."

"We can catch him." Pyrrha determines. "I'll cut him off. You two get up there and follow him. Don't let him escape your vision.

Weiss doesn't need to be told. She had the same idea in mind. The fire escapes on the building in close, and with her running start she latched onto the hanging ladder, scrambling up it as fast as her arms and legs would let her. She can hear Jaune follow behind her, but she's already pushing on. Thirty seconds, that's how long it takes her to get to the top of the building, but right as she does, she sees the figure leap onto another building.

Half a kilometre away.

"Go!" Jaune cried. "Don't lose sight of him!"

She nodded, unsheathing Myrtenaster and dashing after him.

Up here, there are no lights. The rays from the lamps below, and from the windows around her are the only thing that show her path. Her legs burn as she clears the gap between two buildings, and she stumbles over the pipes and generators in her way. She's catching up.

She's faster than the man, and she can tell now that it is a man.

Dressed a black coat and hood hide anything that might distinguish him, but even so, she has one detail on him. She's about to have more as a shot rang out and the man ducked rapidly.

A bullet soared over his head and he comes to a skidding stop the edge of the next building.

"That's enough!" Pyrrha yelled from her vantage point off to the side. She's managed to cut him off just like she said she would, and now, she has her rifle trained on him.

Weiss landed on the same roof as the man now, sword extended in front of her. Behind her, she can hear Jaune clear the gap.

"I agree." She said. "We have some questions for you, you're outnumbered and outgunned right now."

"And it won't get better." Jane tells him. "I've made the call. Hunters are on their way."

Weiss nodded. Reinforcement would assure this situation as a success. "As you can see, running won't get you anywhere. You have only two option. Come quietly, and you shall be questioned on what you were doing leaving that apartment, and on the murder of the woman from earlier this week. The second option." She brandished her rapier. "Is that we take you in by force."

There was a beat of silence, before the man turned, slowly.

Weiss could finally get a good look at him now, or as much as she was able with his apparel.

The hood covered his hair, and the mask, one that covered the top half of his face hid his identity from her. She could however see the unshaven stubble, and scars that marred his chin.

"You don't even know her name."

Weiss blinked. "What?"

His eyes were grey, she noticed that as they bore into her own behind the mask.

And… the blood on his hands was suddenly very, _very_ noticeable. "You don't know the name of the woman I killed."

"Did he just admit it?" Jaune stared incredulously.

He had in fact just done exactly that. It didn't seem to faze him however that he was not seen as guilty.

"You learned nothing of her, who she was, what she'd done or why this came to pass. You know her as a victim, and a dead woman." He shook his head. You hunters… you're so out of touch that you can't even see what's going on, and here you are, questioning _me_ on the death of that woman."

"You just said you killed her!"

"So I did, though I could be lying, covering for another. Either way, I held more respect for my target than you did the person you were supposed to protect."

Weiss' eyes narrowed angrily. "Enough of this. Hands above your head. We're taking you in."

"… you can try."

The threat was clear, and it was enough for Weiss to engage.

She lunged forward, intent on bringing the man low. He would answer for his crimes. She wasn't worried. She was a Hunter, trained to combat Grimm, a coward that prayed on innocents would never have the ability to stand against them.

Which was why she wasn't prepared when the man sidestepped her attack, hooking an elbow under hers and with a grunt, _threw_ her behind him.

"Weiss!" Jaune called out as she fell. A flash of silver was all the warning she got to bring up Myrtenaster up and deflect the blade that scraped along its length.

Faster than she could react he slid across her sword and lashed out.

Weiss suppressed a shriek as the knife sliced open her hand. She nearly dropped her blade, and that was likely the desire of her attacker, but before she could, the killer leapt back.

Jaune's sword crashed down where he'd been standing just a second later and he gave a yell as he brought it up in a wide swing.

Neither of them saw the hand movement the stranger made however, and because of it, Jaune fell back with a cry of his own as a knife sliced past his check.

There was a shift as he brought up his shield to defend from more, but in doing that, cut off his sight.

The figure took advantage it that, and leapt up, kicking out and off the shield and knocking the blond back into Weiss.

They fell down with a yelp.

Weiss rolled as not to be stuck under the larger body, and scrambled to her feet just in time to knock the neck throwing knife out of the air.

This man knew what he was doing.

He was strong, trained, and knew how to fight them.

He was an assassin.

He held daggers in each hand, spread wide as if inciting an attack and took a step forward. Weiss tensed, but gasped as the assassin dived back. She realised a moment later when Pyrrha's javelin sailed by.

Suddenly, he was surrounded.

And he knew it.

"I'll say this one more time." Weiss panted, clutching her bleeding hand with the other. "Surrender. Now."

The man's eyes flicked between them behind his mask. He must have known he couldn't beat all three of them at once. The element of surprise was lost, and if he ran, he'd leave his back exposed.

There was a long breath of silence, which stretched on as the three of them prepared for more violence.

They weren't prepared however, for the distinctive sound of a pin being pulled.

Weiss shouldn't react in time. The man pulled the tails of his coat over his face and threw one arm up.

The next, there was a horrific bang and a flash of white.

Something crashed into her, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to the ground.

Her sight was useless, her ears ringing and in that moment she realised what had just happened.

The next, Jaune's voice cut through.

"Weiss! Weiss get up. Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine." she lied. She most certainly wasn't. She'd been floored, her head was pumping and as she looked around, the man was gone.

Pyrrha held her head in one hand.

Jaune, she realised, had gotten the easy end of it with his shield protecting him from the flash, but even then the look on his face let her know that he probably had a pain between the ears too.

A flashbang. The murder had pulled a bloody flashbang on them.

"What…" Pyrrha groaned. "What just happened?"

Weiss let out a pained breath, she could hear now, and more than that, she could hear sirens in the distance. The tell-tale signs of police, and Hunters on their way.

"We just found the one responsible for the killings." The heiress summarised flatly, "And we just let him get away."

* * *

...

...

* * *

 **Gosh dang it guys, you let the perp get away!**

 **Guess we know that the murders aren't exactly accidents, and something else is going on around here. They better think of something to tell the other Hunters though, because when they hear about this they're going to be in tons of trouble.**

 **Well, at least while they do the work, Ruby gets to have some quality time with birdmom. Hopefully that goes well. How good do you think her cooking is anyway?**


End file.
